


Open World

by BioQuillFiction



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 36,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26059561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BioQuillFiction/pseuds/BioQuillFiction
Summary: Imagine a reality built to be infinite. Built to be explored and built to be dropped in from your home reality and Izikaied into a reality where all you know to be fiction is reality. This is a reality built for everyone to explore and adventure within. Explore, Adventure, Live.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> More tags will be added as the story develops and David goes places we all know and love. Next chap will be his first venture.

**Chapter 1: Tutorial**

  
  


Sunlight be damned who opened my window blinds? I huffed, trying to reach them from my bed. "Go away sun...no one likes you…" I groaned while trying to close the blinds.…

I felt for the blinds strings, feeling nothing but the window glass. Huh, Don't remember pulling them up last night. Hazily I began opening my eyes, blinking as the shapes formed… wait… that's not my window… this isn't my bed… this isn't my room…

"Uh...where am I?" I muttered worriedly, looking around at where I was.

The room was empty, save for the small twin bed I was on and a painting on the wall. The size of the room was no larger than my bedroom back home, but this room was all wood. Ceiling, walls, floor. The bed I was on was a basic twin with a minimal sized frame. Getting up, I was still in my clothes at least. Well, my shirt, shorts and socks. I got up, looking over at the door on the wall in front of me and the painting on the wall next to me.

It reminded me of… it was a woman, pregnant by the look of her belly and surrounded by flowers massive and small, and her clothes looked like some kind of cream and gold silk. Her hair went down her back and was a gold color, eyes a lapis blue.

"Well...that's interesting." I started. "Wonder who that is." I asked aloud.

Looking around I headed for the door, opening it revealed a small hallway, a few other doors along the walls, and down the hall was a lady, dressed in a nuns attire but pink and blue over black and white. She turned to look at me and… She has large yellow stilted eyes, orange/red scales, and something that looked like leathery hair along her forehead. 

"Where...in the hells am I?" I asked worriedly..

The lizard… dragon… person… lady, blinked at seeing me. "Oh my. Another one? You lot have been popping up often lately." She said, walking over next to me. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. It's part of my job to help people like yourself." She informed kindly.

"Well...what's going on?" I asked. "And where am I?"

“Please sit down first.” She asked as I walked over and sat back down on the bed. She stood in front of me. “First off, are you familiar with the concepts of Displaced or Isekai?” She asked.

"I am familiar, yes." I nodded, having heard both of those things back home. "Why do you ask?"

“Well, that’s your current situation. It happens often here. People from realities separate from this one appear here seemingly with no reason.” She stated. “So far you’re the third one to appear this month at this church.”  
  


“Third one? Is that rare or something?” I asked curiously.

“We typically get one or two of you popping up in the church overnight a month. Three has only happened a few times before. So, you are in a whole other world, most likely drastically different from your old one. And I’m sorry to say but there isn’t any means back to the one you came from. Believe me, many of your kind have tried and none have learned of a way.”

“That’s...terrible…” I started sadly. “So...I just..lost my family and friends?”

“There have been cases where those that were left behind appear here as well. If it does though is the question.” She sighed sadly. “The church is your home for as long as you feel the need… Mr.?” She questioned.

“David.” I nodded. “Who are you ma’am?”

“Carla.” She said with a nod. “If you’d like time to process this I can come back later to answer any questions you may have.”

“That...would be appreciated thank you.” I nodded, needing a moment because of this was all just...so sudden.

Carla nodded, standing up and leaving, closing the door behind her. Mom… Dad, Sis… Jose, Charlie and Mike… Christ, maybe I'll get lucky and see them here… Why am I even here? How am I even here… Not even the first one to up and vanish from their home to appear here either…

“This...is too much…” I muttered, not knowing where I am, not knowing why I was stuck here...and missing my family already.

I sat there for maybe a few hours, just wondering how I'm gonna move on. I remember Carla said it was her job at this church to help people in my situation adjust… and if I am stuck in this world I might as well learn about it. Might keep me from dwelling on the pain.

"Um...Ms. Carla?" I called out carefully.

After a minute the kindly lizard lady came in. "Yes David?" She asked as she entered.

"What's this world I'm going to?" I asked curiously.

"Well, the world you are in now… this is never easy explaining. Imagine the universe, but truly infinite. Unlimited exploration, discovery and adventure. That's our reality. Everything that can be done or thought of is possible here… save for returning you home."

"Well that's not fair." I huffed. "But...I suppose it can't be changed…" I sighed out.

"Don't know. Any more questions?"

"Where am I starting off and what do I start with?" I asked curiously.

"This church is just outside the town of Coal Vien, as the name suggests it's known for the coal deposit below. As for supplies we have a large selection in the storage shed around back, you can have your pick of anything."

"Thanks." I nodded. "Where is the shed around here?"

"Follow me." Carla said as I followed her out of the room. Down the hall and some stairs we entered what should normally be a worship area, rather, there were all kinds of people and… 'people' sitting around talking, trading and relaxing. In the center of all this was a statue of that same pregnant lady from the picture in the room I showed up in. I followed Carla outside, the sun was bright, the air smelled so… clean and… holy hell! Floating islands… is that a literal flying ship?! Was that a dragon? "Impressed?" Carla said, giving a small laugh at my amazed look.

"Holy Christ on a bike…" I blinked.

"I told you, unlimited discovery, exploration, and adventure." Carla said with a giggle as I followed her to the shed. The shed itself was fairly ordinary. She opened it and inside… was larger than the outside. Outside the shed was a simple five by five foot wood shed, inside it was a sixty by sixty foot house where various boxes and barrels of things decorated the walls and floor. "Want anything in particular?"

"Um...what's in there?" I asked curiously, wondering what could be in this big shed.

"Weapons, armor, preserved food stuffs, magical bags, spellbooks, a few elemental gems, just whatever the local adventures donate for people like you who end up here." She explained.

"Well...any pets?" I asked curiously.

Carla hummed for a moment. "Not a pet per say but given how you arrived here it will help you out a lot until you get an assistant, if you do that is." She said, entering as I followed where she looked around a shelf covered in various small boxes.

“Alrighty then...let’s take a look.” I said while looking around the place.

I saw a lot of stuff. Guns, swords, armor ranging from classic fantasy to modern and sifi… is that a lightsaber? Are those Pokeballs? Wow… 

“Oh my god...this is amazing.” I said in awe, wondering what to even pick here.

“Here we are.” Carla said, picking out one of those small boxes and walking over to me. She held it in her hands over to me. “This box holds a Familiar Gem, once broken the spirit inside it will follow and aid you so long as you hold onto the contract breaking the gem will create between the two of you. This one is a bit weak, but they will grow with you over time.”

“Thanks.” I said while taking the gem. “How do I break it?” I asked curiously, wondering if there was a specific way to break it.

“Crush it in your grip, the symbol of your contract will mark you both and bind you both.”

I nodded, taking the gem out of the box and looking it over, it was half the size of my palm and looked like glass, glowing with a bright white glow that felt so… calming. I gulped, gripping the small gem as it began to crack, then finally shattered. I felt no shards as it broke, and opening my hand I watched as light poured out from my palm. Upon it began forming a four ringed circle. The light then moved out from my palm and over to the ground before me, and took shape. A small feral form shaped out then began looking less a silhouette of light and more… a dog. A small, black and brown dog with a tail ending in a large puff of hair. They looked up at me, and barked. “Yay! I got a master!” The dog talks!?!

“You...talk?” I asked in surprise.

Again, Carla chuckled. "It's always fun to see these interactions." She mused.

"Yes I talk! And a whole lot more!" The little dog said, her voice a slightly high pitched females voice, not high enough to be annoying, more that of one who is still quite young. "My name is Diva, but everyone calls me DJ." She said, jumping about. As she jumped I saw on her belly was the same symbol that was in my hand.

"Adorable." I chuckled while petting the young dog.

"DJ here will help you out in learning about the world and in your exploration of it if you choose to explore it. Now, onto Equipment." Carla said. "What would you prefer?"

“Hmm…” I hummed while looking around at everything. “How much am I allowed to take?”

"If you take a bag of holding, as much as it can hold. All the bags of holding we have though are a low quality though, they all only hold about… half the room you awoke in worth of supplies."

"Some armor can have their pockets enchanted to be bags of holding too!" DJ stated happily. "Though I doubt there are any armors here like that."

"Sadly." Carla said.

“Right...so gonna need to pick things carefully…” I hummed while looking around the place.

In terms of armor I mostly just need something protective to wear, an extra set so I can clean the first and spare clothes. After that weapons shouldn't be too bad. I mean hell, they have light sabers, swords, guns, some kinda energy weapons, I'll just need a sword and maybe a gun to be safe. A handgun will do fine. And definitely taking that Lightsaber, I mean, hell, it's a Goddamn lightsaber!

I had in the bag of holding a lightsaber, a steel short sword, two sets of leg and torso leather armor, spare clothes, a ten millimeter handgun, and two hundred spare rounds for it with five clips. Still lots of spare room in the bag too. I put the bag on my back, the sack was your basic grey single pocket backpack, and being a bag of holding all it held inside was basically like carrying an empty bag. "Take this too." Carla said, handing me what looked like a tank leather wallet. "Got to have a place to hold the money you acquire. There's two thousand rem in there already. A gift from the church to all like yourself."

“What’s rem?” I asked curiously.

"Rem is what our money is called!" DJ said. She jumped, tapping the leather wallet with her nose as a single greyish black pebble flew out with some strange marking on it. She caught it in her mouth then put it on the floor. "It's short for Remember, cause they last forever and if you find a special shrine you can learn all the things this little stone remembers. They are found in dungeons, dropped by all enemies, and accepted everywhere."

“Huh...that’s...interesting.” I said simply, not thinking a humble pebble could do something like that.

I put the rem back in the wallet. I'm assuming it's also a bag of holding to have two thousand of these small pebbles in there. "So, do you have an idea or a destination in mind?" Carla asked me.

“No and no.” I said honestly.

"How about this, do you want to explore or do you want to live as you did back home?" DJ asked.

Back home… as much as I miss it I worked at a fucking McDonald's. Shit hours, shittier pay… I did always play games to escape the boring and feel powerful and to see things my world could never show… and here magic and science and so much more I don't know is all around me… I'd be insane not to want to see it all.

“What would be a good starting place?’ I asked curiously. “Cause there’s a lot of places I could go to.”

"Depends on what you will be doing, but most Isikai like yourself want to start with a dungeon raid or a guild quest. Which would you prefer?" Carla asked.

“Well...what’s a Guild Quest?” I asked curiously.

"Basically they're either a job or an event. A job is things like ‘Kill the slimes’, find my horse, take this package from A to B. Events are special trials the Time Walkers organize for people to test themselves in grand scale feats." DJ said. "Oh, and the Time Walkers are one of the three guilds The Mother herself oversees."

“The Mother? Is that who those statues are?”

"Yes." Carla said quite enthusiastically. "The Mother is the one who made our reality infinite, allowed all possibilities and crafted the way our reality works so we can always find enjoyment."

"She oversees only three guilds, The Time Walkers, The Mother's Sons, and The Mother's Daughters. Churches like this one are run by The Mother's Daughters, like Carla here." DJ explained as Carla nodded.

“Uh...is that metaphorical or literal with the naming convention?” I asked nervously.

"There are males, herms, genderless. The Mother's guilds take all, they are just names really, but they do tell what each guild covers." Carla started, placing a hand on her chest. "The Mother's Daughters are protectors, healers, caretakers and teachers. My fellow sisters and I each keep the local churches operational and give what aid we can. This church is mostly a popular rest stop, free inn and I can heal most injuries."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded in understanding.

"The other two, the Mother's Sons and the Time Walkers function nearly identical but still differently. The Mother's Sons are warriors, the strongest people in our reality are almost all members of The Mother's Sons, they explore this realities most dangerous areas, just one of The Mother's Sons elites can take on the Rank Five dungeons solo. The Time Walkers operate more… shadowy." DJ began explaining. "Before I say more, how old did people in your world typically live?"

“About a hundred or so?” I said honestly.

"Ah, well you're gonna live way longer than that." DJ said. "People here are almost immortal, and Isikai like yourself gain this trait too. Now I did say almost, there are a few things that can kill you here, first is the Level Five Dungeon bosses, second is a Void Admin, and lastly the Time Walkers. Time Walkers do many things but their primary purpose is to bring those who have lived long enough to the afterlife. You see, there is a condition some people can get after living so long, we call it Madness. Time Walkers know when people will fall into Madness and arrive well before that time to bring them to the afterlife, and if they resist…" 

"Then they become executioners." Carla finished with a sigh. 

“Well then…” I started. “That’s...quite a lot to know.”

"That's our reality." DJ said with a shrug… how did she do that? "So, dungeon or guild?"

“Guild seems like a decent start right now.” I said honestly.

"Okay! Follow me!" DJ said, the small dog walking out the shed and heading out as I followed.

"Good luck, you are always welcome at any church for rest." Carla said as we hit the road towards the town of Coal Vein.

“Thank you.” I nodded to the priest while following my new dog. “Onward to a new adventure.”

* * *

The road to town was long… easy more than five miles. The landscape around was littered with various holes where the black ore that is coal could be seen just below the topsoil. It amazed me just how much seemed to be here.

“Good lord, how has this place not caught on fire yet?” I asked honestly.

"Magic." DJ said simply. "There was a major fire once a few million years ago, and ever since that happened they put up all kinds of anti fire spells. Not even a lighter can ignite in or around the town."

“I mean...if it’s been that long, all the...wait, now how did the fire stop? Shouldn’t this entire place be set ablaze?” I asked.

"Hydro and weather mages. Took five whole years to put it all out and five more to rebuild the town and mine, safety anti fire spells included."

“And I presume that was also to stop all the poisonous gases?” I asked curiously.

"Yup. Purification enchantments work fast."

“That’s very interesting.” I said honestly. “Wonder what else magic has done…”

"All kinds of neat stuff. Just ask away and I'll answer all I can."

“You sure seem to know a lot even though I just got you though.” I brought up. “Why is that?”

"Familiars don't stay in their Crystals, they're more like summoning. We have our own dimension where we learn about this world so we can help out those who summon us."

“Huh, that’s interesting.” I said honestly. “Hmm...what were the most recent big events?”

"Big like what? New colonized worlds? Homeworld news? Newest children of the Mother? New enemy types? Red and Blue moon events? Top ranked Heroes? Bad guys?" She listened off.

“Like...biggest world events.” I said honestly. “Er...well what would be considered a ‘big world event’.”

"Hmm for this planet… that would be the unexplored portions of it. This world only has 27% of it's surface land explored and less than one percent of its water, subterranean and atmosphere explored."

“Damn.” I said honestly. “But uh...considering this is on a galactic scale...what was the biggest thing to happen in the entire universe?”

"That would be this reality formation countless Centillions of years ago. When the Mother came into existence after the great war."

“Great war?” I asked curiously. “Also Jesus, it was that long ago?”

"Yes, and yes. Before the Mother came into existence there was a great war that threatened the entirety of the multiverse. A massive family of countless powerful heroes fought an ageless being who created the foundation of all realities. These Heroes managed to beat them by learning to become the same type of being as he was, and after they won the family of heroes needed to fix the damage done in the battles aftermath. They all fused into a single all powerful being we know as The Mother, and with just thoughts and words alone rebuilt all reality into what it is now. Ever since everything has been in more or less perfect harmony."

“Huh...that’s quite a history.” I said honestly.

"The finer details are largely forgotten sadly, but the story is still true. Anything else?"

“Any general tips I should know about?” I asked curiously.

"Well, for starters once we're in town we should get you an Assistant." DJ said.

“What’s an Assistant anyways? Cause I doubt it’s a person following me.” I said honestly.

"An Assistant is a Genetic Spell Matrix that once placed on you can't be removed, but it… basically acts as a hud and menu options from video games. As well as a whole lot of other cool stuff."

“Cool.” I nodded. “Good to know...it’s probably expensive…”

"Completely free!" DJ corrected.

“Really?” I asked curiously. “That seems...strange.”

"Well it's linked to Genetics, everyone is born with one on their wrist, or equivalent appendage, and it activates around puberty. It doesn't seem right to charge Isikai like yourself for something everyone here has from birth."

“Well...that sounds about right.” I nodded. “Even though back home people would charge an arm and a leg for it.”

"Yikes. I guess after we got you that Assistant we should go shopping. Camping equipment mostly, will be better in the long run since a proper inn is expensive over time and while the churches are free for the nights it's not always guaranteed you'll get a bed."

“Starting off homeless, isn’t that a good start.” I joked.

"Most people, especially adventurers, are. Not everyone has the typical job, adventures often make their own homes someplace they like or just wander with all their belongings in their Assistant or their bags of holdings. Or both."

“Sounds about right.” I said honestly.

"Anymore questions?"

“Hmm...what’s the current quest we’re on? Or do I not have it yet?” I asked curiously.

“Hmm, I guess if anything we need to get you an Assistant, get you some camping and survival gear, and then figure out which guild we can start you off with.”

“Sounds like a simple enough plan.” I nodded. “Now, where would the proper shop be?”

“There should be a map for us to look at once we reach the town entrance. Should only be a few more miles.”

“Hopefully.” I shrugged. “I don’t know much about this place, I’m mostly working on what you know here DJ.”

“Hopefully I’ll be able to keep you informed.”

We arrived in town and as DJ said, there was a map. So this ‘town’ is apparently bigger than my home state… but thankfully there was a shop nearby, a mall actually. Walking our way there I spotted a whole lot more various races of people and… why is that wolf lady naked?!

“Uh...what’s the ‘dress code’ here?” I blushed brightly as I tried not to look at the naked beings here.

“Well, a lot of beastial type races go out naked mainly because of cultural, or health reasons. I mean, as someone with lot’s a fur on them at all times I don’t need extra heat on me from clothes.”

“Yeah...but uh…” I started nervously. “At least covering up the bits…” I muttered nervously.

“What do you mean?” DJ asked… Oh, uh...er…

“It’s nothing…” I said nervously.

Thankfully the nudist furries weren’t many. The mall was… amazing. The outside area was the size of my hometown’s hospital, the INSIDE was the size of my home town, including the airzone. DJ explained to me that Pocket Dimension spells and tech that makes this possible are part of everyday life, so the inside is typically always bigger than the outside. I found myself at a small, and by small I mean the individual shops were all also pocket dimensions and this one was about the size of a Walmart,rather than the size of another mall, that sold gear more directed at Adventurers. They had fucking Grenades, Rocket Launchers, one handed micro missile handguns… and I could afford them! 

I didn’t get that though, weapon wise I’m good with what I got and need to practice anyway. I instead headed over towards the camping and survival stuff and hello Dragon Ball Capsule Corp. Every ‘tent’ was either a small device that expanded into a building with all you’d need, or an actual tent that once set up was still the size of a small house inside. They even came bundled with defensive turrets for when you camp in Hazard Zones.

“Holy crap...seriously I don’t think I have enough money for any of this…” I said worriedly.

Looking around, I found one cheap enough that I'd be left for eight hundred rem. It wasn’t a camp per say, it was a car. A car that looked like a Ford Mustang, but inside it was basically a small RV. No gas needed either. That was a bonus. With that in tow I went off to get food stuff. They only sell in bulk but… fifty pounds of beef for fifteen rem? Sixty pounds of potatoes for ten rem? Two hundred gallons worth of water for nine rem?!

“Okay so am I the only one that thinks these prices are outlandishly cheap?” I asked DJ carefully.

“That’s how it’s always been. Even before the Mother existed the people of the multiverse learned how to rapidly mass produce food of all kinds that outpaced the rates of growth for cities and population. It’s largely thanks to the Elemental Crystals that can be found almost everywhere. Mostly in underground veins and as dungeon loot. Alone they give you power over things like fire, water, air, ice, time, space, death, spirit, earth, ect, but together they can do amazing things.” The small dog informed, grabbing in her mouth a five hundred pound bag of dog food in her mouth, and failing to pull it off the shelf herself. That was twenty five rem. “Little help?”

“I don’t think I can lift up five hundred pounds, but I’ll try.” I said while trying to help my poor dog.

I could not. But, to my surprise, store employees could via what looked like a gravity gun. I paid for everything and was left with six hundred rem. Thankfully that all, somehow, fit inside my backpack of holding without issue, and we headed off to a nearby guild building. 

It wasn’t far of a walk, and there were a lot of guild offices inside this single pocket dimension building. Hunters Guild, Explorers Guild, Gatherers Guild, Arms Guild… Familiars Guild huh?

“Familiars Guild? What’s that?” I asked curiously.

“It’s a guild for people who enjoy training and collecting and breeding familiers, like me!” DJ said happily with a jump. “They aren’t all that big members wise but they work alongside a lot of other guilds given most familiar gems are found in dungeons.”

“But you’re so adorable, who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that?” I asked while kneeling down and petting the cute doggo.

“Mostly because it’s time consuming.” DJ huffed. 

“That’s...what happens when you take care of pets though.” I said honestly.

We headed into the Familier Guild office, the whole place looked more like a pet store than anything. Soon I was face to face with a… anthro Zebra lady. Huh. “Hello, how may I help you?” She asked me.

“I would like to join.” I said while picking up DJ gently. “I have a Familiar, and she’s a good girl.”

“Cute.” She said at DJ. “I see you don’t have an Assistant, I’ll call the nearby Adventurer’s guild, they have someone there who can get you one.” She said, lifting her left arm. Her wrist had this tattoo looking symbol on it, a circle with a bunch of overlapping lines or stars or something. She tapped it and I jumped at seeing there was this hologram looking screen floating between us as she looked at it, words appeared on it… mental texting? That is so cool!

“Wow…” I said in awe at the things going on.

“They’ll be here in a bit.” She said. Again, I jumped as suddenly in a fast gust of wind and lightning, a guy who looked human but I’m not sure, was next to me. “Hey Jake.”

“Alley.” He replied, looking at me now. “So, you’re the new arrival?”

“Yes I am.” I nodded. “Names David.” I introduced myself politely.

"Alright then, right or left arm wrist?" He asked simply, taking out something that looked like a paper thin watch.

“Um...right.” I said while bringing up my right hand.

He put it on and I watched as the materials melted into my skin, that same symbol as Alley's appeared on my wrist.

I blinked, words appearing in my vision now.

_[New user detected._

_Scanning DNA._

_DNA scanned._

_Boot up initialized._

_Boot up complete._

_Welcome User David Alchem]_

I blinked again, my vision changed as suddenly there was two small green bars in my top left, one had my name, the other had DJ's. There was also a small compass in the top center if my vision, a small mini map in my bottom right corner… so cool. "Later." Jake said, speeding off like lightning again.

"Speedsters." Alley said with a roll of her eyes. "Alright, Assistant please?" She asked, holding up some scanner looking thing.

I raised my assistant up. "Well...this is interesting."

There was a quick flash of light from her device and she looked over at a computer next to her. "Okay then. Entery level member, and here you go." She then handed me a card with my face on it, almost like a driver's license.

[Families Guild Member: David Alchemy

Age: 23

Race: Human

Sex: Male

Level: 1]

"That ID card will also let you enter Dungeons!" DJ informed.

“I have a feeling Dungeons aren’t entirely what I believe they are.” I said nervously.

"Depends on type and level. There are all kinds of dungeon types but they all fall into one of the five level types, level one being easiest and level five being the hardest and most dangerous." Alley explained. "For now you can only enter level one dungeons with your current rank."

"If you wanna boost that up, you gotta explore fully more dungeons til you're ready to handle the harder ones." DJ added.

“Sounds simple enough.” I nodded. “Wonder where the closest dungeon is?”

"There's fifty nine around the village, twelve of which are level ones you can enter. If you’d like you can check Guild Postings on your Assistant to keep an eye out for dungeons that spawn in familiar gems we're always keeping an eye out for." Alley said.

“Sounds simple enough.” I said while raising it up. “Uh...how do I work this thing?”

"Just tap the mark, the rest is all done with thought." Alley explained.

I tapped the mark and that holoscreen jumped out from it like with her. My options were simple. Store. Settings. Media. Internet. And lastly Storage. I mentally imagined a mouse cursor over settings and clicked it. It worked and now I had lots of options. I saw Guilds and clicked it, opening to a list with one option. Familiars Guild. Clicking that I was shown a lot of news stuff and other things, topped ranked in the guild and all that. Ah, here we are, Gem locations. Filter to level one and yes use location… two have some gems I can find. 

“Cool.” I nodded. “So there’s a quest for one of the closer dungeons.”

"No but you don't need to be on a job or quest to collect and gather these gems." Alley explained. "Just the location and to know if it drops there or not."

“Oh, that’s good to know.” I said honestly.

"To enter your ID card for your affiliated guild just has to say you can enter that dungeon level or higher." DJ added.

"Stay safe on your adventures." Alley the anthro zebra receptionist added.

Before leaving the mall I bought a few more essentials since this car thing I got also counts as an RV and once outside I read the instructions for it.

[Link vehicle to Assistant via touching the pod to the Assistant Matrix symbol. Once done they will be linked and place a vehicle pod at least fifteen feet away from yourself. In your assistant select the Items menu and find the vehicle under the respective tab and activate from the menu, the vehicle will construct itself to full size within one minute.]

“Well, that’s cool.” I said honestly. “Let’s try that out…” I muttered while doing what the instructions told me.

As advertised, the car constructed itself before my eyes. Stepping in… I imagine this is what the TARDIS is like. Once in the door I was met with the driver's and passenger's seat, and behind that was a large section that was the size of my old apartment. Pre furnished thankfully. I began putting all the food items away, thankfully the shelves and fridge/freezer are also pocket dimensions, as well as the other stuff I got and felt good about all this. I felt pretty hopeful. With everything put away I sat in the driver's seat and… where is the steerting wheel?

“Good lord…” I blinked. “This place is huge and...where’s the wheel?”

I spotted a small… is that a camera? It was where the wheel should be… shrugging, I held my Assistant mark up to it. A flash from the camera and new menu appeared in my vision again. 

_[New Owner Registered._

_Welcome David Alchem._

_Select Destination.]_

A map of the whole planet appeared before me in my vision… holy hell. This is a massive planet. Okay uhh… Coal Vein?

Okay good it gave me the area of the town and around it. Let's see, the dungeon I need is closest… here it is. Castle Ruins Caliporion.

The car's engine roared and the map vanished, the car moved. Fast. So fast all I saw in the front and side windows was blur.

[Destination: Castle Ruins Caliporion. Level 1 Arena Dungeon.

2.9 million miles to destination.

Travel time: 3 hours.]

“Uh...excuse me?” I started. “How is that far going to take three hours?”

"Remember those Elemental Crystal's I talked about?" DJ asked from the passenger seat. "Time Gem plus Space Gem make an engine capable of crossing massive distances in no time at all."

“Those...aren’t elements though.” I pointed out.

"Are you really gonna compare elements you know from your world to this one?"

“There should at least be some form of comparison here.” I frowned.

"Well when you say elements, what do you mean by that exactly?"

“Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and if I want to get into Chinese lore here, Wood and Metal.” I said honestly.

"And time and space don't count to you because?"

“Because neither of those things are ‘elements’, they are literal parts of existence as we know it?” I pointed out.

"As you _knew_ it." DJ said. "Remember, this reality is completely different from your old, and since before The Mother, Time and Space have been considered elements of nature and reality. Especially after their elemental Crystals were discovered."

“Alrighty then...good to know.” I said honestly.

"Well, we got three hours to kill. You mess with your Assistant and I, will nap." The small dog familiar said as she curled up into a round ball and began to sleep.

I chuckled at how fast she fell asleep. “Alright.” I said gently. “Get your sleep DJ.” I said while starting to mess with my assistant.

I decided to check the Shop option. I was met by something akin to a darkmode amazon sight, but replaced Amazon with Freak Inc. The items were split into Digital and Physical. Clicking digital, I saw a large list of recommended apps. Hey, Youtube? Neat. Download.

Browsing around that I figured I’d… Guild Apps. Clicking that list I found the Familier’s Guild App and once it installed I opened it.

It was basically the same page I was at earlier. Now then, where… Ah, Castle Ruins Caliporion. Known Familier spawns. 

Turtle Knight Adion. This familiar is a ninth generation familiar that’s defense is it’s dominant skill branch. Makes sense it’s a turtle. Gonna have to look up what a skill branch is. Speed wise on land it’s just below average but if in water it tripled. Capable of using weapons and magic, a worthwhile beginning familiar.

Ghost Knight Pokin. A Pre Mother familier that is more well known for their curses and black magic over their attack power. While no physical attack can harm it they take more than average damage from magic attacks and blessed/Holy attacks and spells deal double damage to them.

[Newest Addition] DJ the Loving.

Newest addition? I looked over at the sleeping dog, then looked back at the info.

A new familier that at one point was an ordinary dog who died in a world not this one. Her soul was brought here much in the same way the Displaced and Izikai are. Upon her spirit’s arrival she was taken into the familiar’s dimension and made a familiar. Currently she is too new and has one known masters. No further information available.

“Huh...that’s...interesting.” I muttered. “Poor girl...she probably doesn’t even remember her previous owner…”

One known owner? Looking at that my name wasn’t what came up. Jack Degurechaff. I looked it up and apparently he’s ranked number four in the familiars guild top members. Huh. He’s some weird… wolf… pony… human mix. His face looks human but he has the dark blue fur and fangs of a wolf while having pony ears, horn, wings, and large blue eyes and blond hair.

“Huh...wonder why he left DJ?” I wondered, checking to see if he was still alive.

His status on the guild was as alive, location hidden though. 

I sighed and decided to look through my Assistant settings again. Hmm, ah, Skill Trees? Clicking that, I blinked as I saw a series of circles linked together around a central sphere that had my name on it. Huh… Nothing’s unlocked yet, wait, weapons. Weapons Skills. Two were lit, Firearms, and Melee. Firearms, handguns, 10mm handgun… huh. Let’s see. Melee, Energy, Lightsaber.

“Well, that’s very interesting.” I said honestly. “Can’t really do things right now since I’m level one…”

Closing all that out I got up and began to look through the food I got. Meat, water, oh good this place also came with a few pots and pans. Hm?

I looked at the stove, seeing a small screen that seemed to Control it. It had two options. Manual and Auto… no way.

I clicked auto, and in my vision a list of food options became available based on all the stuff I had. Okay now that is just awesome. I clicked in fried steak and watched in awe as the stove lit up, a pan moving atop it like from a Harry Potter movie and oil and seasonings and all the ingredients flowed around me as the meal cooked itself. Moving thankfully the floating food moved away from me and I sat in the living room area where a flat screen was built into the wall. I sat on the couch and wondered.

I lifted the Assistant symbol on my wrist up to the TV and there was a beam of light that went from the TV to it. The TV then flashed to life as a holographic controller formed in my hand… holy shit it feels solid.

“Good lord this place has everything.” I said, still not being able to believe this was at all possible.

I clicked the channels button and was surprised to see all kinds of shows from home, some that were clearly from this world, and remakes of shows and movies I knew from home but made in this reality. Those Harry Potter movies look way cooler like this.

“And this is what happens when Harry Potter has more effort put into it…” I muttered

I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with real magic and possibly a real philosopher's stone for the entirety of the ride. Also DJ and I ate a quick meal. The steak was amazing and DJ enjoyed the dog food. The car… RV…. This thing let me know that we were just half a mile from the entrance to this dungeon.

It stopped at that point and as I was about to exit when either this… base, I'm gonna call it my base, or my Assistant, alerted me.

[Warning!: Entering Hazards Zone! 

Be cautious of monsters and dangerous creatures.]

“Sounds about right…” I started while looking outside to see if there was anything up.

Exiting the car door my eyes were hit by bright sunlight, and once that cleared the cool breeze of the wind hit me. The air smelt of dirt and grass. All around me were decayed wagons, skeletons half buried of people of all races and horses, other riding beasts and beyond that was the ruined, still smoking walled castle that was my objective dungeon. The hell happened here.

"Wow, this place looks neat." DJ said.

“This place definitely looks neat.” I said honestly.

DJ sniffed at a skeleton, pulling an old looking knife from it's ribs. "I'm surprised you don't look horrified at this place." She said, dropping said knife by my feet and sniffing around more skeletons.

“Oh no I am.” I said honestly.

DJ looked up at me, seeing my pailing face. "Mind telling me what you think happened?"

“War?” I asked. “Cause there’s a lot more bodies and mounts here…”

"That's the general theme of this dungeon yes." DJ said. "Despite how this place looks, it was never an actual Kingdom at any point, when this world was colonized this dungeon spawned just as you see it."

“That seems...weird.” I started. “How can dungeons just...magically spawn in when people appear?”

"How to put this." The small dog said, putting down a dirty bag and actually moved a paw to her chin to think… so cute! "You know of a game called Minecraft?"

“Yes, and also your adorable doing that.” I chuckled.

"Well, keeping that in mind, imagine every uncolonized world is a blank Minecraft world, and when someone lands on it the world itself generates. Typically they always theme themselves around the person who landed on it. In this world's case, it's actually more themed towards resources, since the founder of this world was primarily a handyman/wilderness lover. Dungeons are all themed but spawn their themes, layouts, and their difficulty level spawn in randomly. The only thing that's constant is that they spawn in Hazard zones, areas of the land and sea where monsters, and of course dungeons exist on the worlds. Even space, the moons and suns of every planet has these safe zones, where villages, wild game and the all that exist safely, and Hazards zones like where we are now."

“Well then…” I started, not sure what to say about that explanation.

"So, in short, these skeletons were never people… But at least half of all of them will wake up at night as undead soldiers to fight us once the moon is up. All of them if it's a blood moon, none if it's a blue moon." She said. "So, let's loot some stuff that's at least a bit useful in terms of scrap or salvage. Then we head into the dungeon proper."

“Jeez, this is starting to sound more like Terraria than Minecraft…” I frowned.

"Eh, it was the first example I could think of that wouldn't be too confusing." She shrugged. 

With that in mind I helped search the bones and wrecked wagons and boxes. Weapons wise were all metal and in bad shape. DJ said a feature in the Assistant could let me scrap them for either useful parts or melt them back down into their base metals to either make a new one or use in something else. With a small stockpile of metals from damaged swords, guns, and a few scraps of leather and cloth from armor. I actually found some useful ammo, about fifty extra bullets for my handgun and various other bullets.

With that we headed inside the dungeon walls. The town area was wrecked and I saw more skeletons just scattered about. A ways in front of me I spotted this small… blackish purple creature with bright white eyes and twisted antenna on its head. 

"A Shadow Creature." DJ informed.

“Uh...what?” I asked nervously.

"They're monsters that have existed here well before The Mother. They show up in dungeons and in the hazards zones as enemies. That's the most common type, and everyone just refers to it as the Common Shadow."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “So...just kill them or are they hard to kill?”

"This is a level one and even in the level fives those ones are really weak. A shot or two from your gun or one good swing from your light saber sword will kill it."

“Sounds simple enough.” I said while taking aim at the shadow creature.

My aim with guns… is shit. Half a clip and finally I get a shot off in its torso. The thing bled this mercury colored liquid, then rapidly evaporated as did it's body til a small pile of them was where it once stood. "They also always drop rem upon death." DJ said.

“I’d like to not be complete shit at aiming…” I frowned.

"Have you shot a gun before?"

“I shot an airsoft gun before, the principal's should have stayed though.” I said honestly.

"And the gun recoil, bullet speed and spread as well as any wind in the area? You accounted for all that?"

“Not...fully.” I said nervously.

DJ chuckled. "You'll learn and get better over time." She said. "Come-on, these Arena Dungeons are all about exploring and combat. But because of how they work stealth is an option too."

“And is Stealth the most overpowered thing in this world or something?” I asked curiously.

"Depends on how you build it." She shrugged as we continued through this dungeon.

So far aside from those Shadow Creature things there wasn't much in terms of monsters, which for me is a good thing considering combat is still new to me. Still, at least as I kept pissing bullets I hit more than missed. Now the main bitch is when these little shits move they move fast. We were stopped in some house so I could refill my clips, DJ digging through anything that was at her level to reach. 

There better be a way I can reload these like In video games, loading bullets is a pain.

“Alright, so how does reloading this thing become easier besides practice?” I frowned.

"Apps." DJ said from inside a nearby knocked over barrel. "Pretty sure the Assistant has apps for that."

“Are...are you joking?” I started slowly.

"Nope." She said simply, two apples rolling out of the barrel. DJ's head then poked out, looking at me. "Apps for things like auto reloading gun magazines when placed back in your bags."

“You are just too adorable to be mad at for making an outdated 2000’s joke.” I chuckled.

I decided to check just that and there were a lot of these auto reload apps. On a related note in the shop items section there are these things called Infinity mags. Basically the magazine pulls the ammo from your bag via your Assistant and you never seen to manually reload a gun again. The one I need for my gun is seven thousand rem. Way more than what I got.

“That would be so good if I had money…” I muttered while looking at all the apps to see which one’s were the best and not scams.

This one looked good.

[Rapid Reload.

Upon install just tap your empty magazines on your Assistant and they will be reloaded. 

10 Rem]

Clicking buy took the rem from my wallet, somehow, and installed the app. Once it was installed and I made sure it was working I just tapped the empty mag on my assistant and blinked, seeing the mag now full of its respective bullets. Thank you. 

“Okay that’s going to make life so much easier.” I sighed out thankfully.

With my clips full and the various loots in tow we headed back out, killing a few more shadow Creatures and managed to find a ruined blacksmith shop. It was here I found my first elemental Gem. It was an almost chrome grey crystal gem with these… thorns pulsating around it. It fit in my entire palm.

“Uh...the hell is this?” I asked curiously.

I held it to DJ who sniffed it. "That is a Nothingness Gem."

“That’s...what?” I asked. “Nothingness? Why does that sound familiar?”

"Hmm… depends. Does the title, Kingdom Hearts, ring any bells?"

“Wait...oh yeah! I remember that.” I said honestly. “I’ve played enough of it...still can’t believe their making a rhythm game about it.”

"Weird. Anyway, Nothingness is the stuff like those Nobodies and such had. That's the power that crystal holds."

“Huh...cool.” I said honestly.

"You can sell it, use it to embeu armors and weapons with Nothingness abilities or absorb it and use that energy yourself."

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “Wow that’s...quite a thing.” I said honestly. “Well...getting the energy to use its abilities would come in handy…” 

"Just squeeze it and your Assistant will ask if you want to absorb it. Just hit yes and you got your first energy based abilities skill tree unlocked."

“Cool.” I nodded while squeezing the crystal. “Can’t wait to start with some new powers.”

An alert flashed in my vision.

[Elemental Crystal Detected.

Type: Nothingness

Absorb into DNA to utilize energy?

Yes?

No?]

I clicked yes and watched as it seemingly melted in my hand, flowing into my skin like water to a dry sponge and I saw a new bar appear in my hud under the health one.

[Nothingness energy absorbed.

New skill tree grown.

One Branch Ability available: Thorns.

Twenty five usable points of Nothingness energy. 

Recharge time after complete drain is two hours.]

I went over to my skill trees and yes Nothingness was a brand new tree, linked via… roots, I guess, to my main tree. There it is. Thorns. Shoot Nothingness thorns from your palms. Uses one point every time cast.

“Sounds simple enough.” I said honestly.

I lifted my hand, palm facing forward and… is it with thought or is it- I held my hand out like I was going to grab a large ball and suddenly a ball of the Nothingness energy appeared in my hand. I blinked, smiled and managed to get a shot off at the wall by pulling my arm back just a bit then pushing it forward like I was picking something… not exactly magic but fuck that's cool! "Yay!" DJ cheered with me.

“Okay, now _that’s_ cool.” I said with a warm smile.

With new power in hand, pun intended, we headed off. This was a bit earlier to aim than my gun and I can shoot this in my right or left hand so that was fun. Messing around aside we finally reached a shopping district area where some real valuables were. Decent armors, weapons, tools, food, money and ammo. I even found a second handgun. The jewelry was the real nice prize, my assistant telling me just one of the nine gold rings I found was worth a hundred rem a piece.

“Cool.” I said honestly. “This is all going to come in handy.”

As we headed outside I spotted what looked like someone. They were a lady, wearing ragged torn clothes and walking around aimlessly. DJ growled at them. "Careful David. That's not a person."

“I mean...isn’t it obvious that she’s not a person?” I asked while carefully bringing up my gun. “But what is it?”

"Well, it's basically a shadow Creature, but this one is made to look human in these kinds of dungeons. The ones in the level ones are pretty much easy to figure out but the harder level ones, those human looking shadow Creatures can pass for a person so well. It's also a bit stronger than the Common ones. The closer to the castle we get the more of these stronger monsters will pop up."

“Sounds about right.” I shrugged. “Well...just kill it still?”

"Yup. But these kinds can use weapons and low level spells so just be careful."

“Alright…” I said while taking aim carefully at this ragged monster.

I'd be lying if I said I shot it immediately. When I saw it's face it really did look like a person. I hesitated a bit, but fired. Thankfully it bled that mercury colored crap rather than normal red blood. That made the next three shots easier. Upon death it dropped a dagger, thirty seven rem… and a Nokia? Not even a new type; the actual classic Nokia phone… probably shouldn't question how or why.

“Ah yes, the most durable of all the phones.” I said while picking up what would constitute more as a brick of some stupidly strong material than a phone.

Heading deeper in we came across more and more of these not people Shadow Creatures. One had a gun and I got to experience the feeling of getting shot, in the left leg to be specific.

Pain sucks. Oh how this sucks! As I was limping I saw as DJ ran up to the gun welding mad not person, and barked, a line of Nothingness Thorns hitting it's torso. She barked thorns a few more times til it died and melted.

“Good girl.” I said warmly. “Also ow…” I groaned in pain.

“Did you grab any healing items from the church?” DJ asked as she ran up to me.

“Thankfully yes.” I said while digging through my pocket and pulling out a healing vial. “When in doubt, grab as many healing items as you physically can hold, so says basically every RPG ever.” I said while uncorking the vial and drinking the healing potion.

It tasted… Kinda minty, with a hint of… Lime? I winced, my shot leg closing up the wound before my eyes. Thank goodness that bullet went clean through. “We gotta grab you better armor at some point.” She said, sniffing the now closed up wound. I put weight on the leg. It was sore but not bad.

“Or just armor in general.” I grunted.

“Yeah, Leather armor isn’t the best for stopping bullets.” DJ sighed. She then turned her head, an ear lifting. “I think I heard someone. A person person.” She said, taking a sniff to the air.

“What’s the smell?” I asked curiously. “Anything specific?”

She took some sniffs. “I smell… Oil. Burned metal… Melted plastic… I think it’s a Synthetic.” DJ said.

“A synthetic?” I asked nervously.

"You know, Robot, Android person. They exist here like you and everyone else." DJ said. "They might be in trouble if something damaged their body."

“Well then let’s go check it out. Start searching girl.” I started, preparing to help search.

I followed DJ along the road, dodging shadow Creatures and those not people along the way. We arrived in the castle courtyard when I saw them… they looked like a balloon, no, a small hot air balloon that was on fire floating in the air. There were four of them surrounded by something that looked like a smaller version of the Terminator. Their arm was in bad shape and they were cornered by those things.

"Flying Flames." DJ said. "Those Shadow Creatures can get as hot as a Blacksmith forge in a level one dungeon, no wonder they started melting."

“Okay so how do I hit the things that are literally hot air balloon’s on fire?” I asked worriedly.

"Bullets can work, but best use those Nothingness thorns." 

“Alright.” I said while creating a ball of Nothingness Thorns. “Let’s hope for the best.” I said while firing off some at one of the balloons.

Thankfully they were super weak, dying in one shot each. 

“I kind of expected these things to be a lot tougher…” I said while making sure to kill all the balloon monsters.

"Well they are still basically hot air balloons." 

“Yeah that makes sense.” I nodded. “Alright, so let’s make sure the person is okay…” I said while moving over to the Synth in hopes they were alright.

"Thanks for the assist." They said, sounding heavily robotic. "Just goes to show, even level ones can screw you." They stood, and I realized this robot person was shorter than me. "Name's Cassidy."

“David.” I said with a nod. “You okay there?”

"Would you believe me if I said I've been worse off?" They said. "First I got an axe to the neck, that broke my primary voice chip so now I'm talking from my backup, then these fucks appeared and melted my cosmetic skin off and armor. I suck at these dungeons." The intelligent machine said, and it felt nice hearing them talk with such… life. So this is just a back up voice then? Huh.

“Need some help?” I asked. “And such at ‘these’ dungeons?”

“I guess that would be helpful. I’ll need to make repairs first, let’s find the closest safe room.”

“There probably should be one somewhere.” I said honestly, looking around carefully.

“I know where it is. Follow me.” Cassidy said as DJ and I followed the Synth. 

The safe room was a half broken inn, but apparently these dungeon safe rooms contain some loot too, typically a book on ‘lore’ of the dungeon for those who might want to know about things like that, and beds to rest on. While Cassidy fixed themselves up I reloaded my gun magazines and went through the collected loot so far. In total the stuff I’m gonna sell, according to my Assistant, will net me about three grand in rem. Not bad at all.

“Well so far this has been a decent venture for me.” I said honestly.

“The only downside so far has been getting shot.” DJ said, taking a sniff at the hole in my armor where my first, and odds are far from last, gunshot was. “Wonder how long Cassidy will take in repairing herself?”

“No idea.” I shrugged. “I...don’t know how long it would take even to build a robot to begin with.”

“Depends on if she was built, birthed or won.” DJ said with a shrug.

“Uh...what?” I asked. “Built I understand but...birthed or won?”

“Just because she’s synthetic doesn't mean she can’t have kids, or have been born. All mechanical life forms are born/made with fully functional synthetic reproduction organs. She can have kids either with another synthetic or an organic. As for the won part. Well… how do I put this… you know how my summoning gem was a dungeon prize? Well it’s the same for some beings, they aren’t made or born but actually spawned in as prizes in boss loot chests. They are people in their own right but appear as a prize.”

“Huh...that’s pretty interesting.” I said honestly.

“Yup. Typically they can spawn in level ones too but only in the final boss chest, they are more common the more dangerous the dungeon, for obvious reasons. I know the main boss of this place was beaten already, can you check if there are any of the others still alive?”

"How can you tell the main boss is dead?" I inquired as I checked the dungeon to see if anything else was still alive.

“Check your minimap.”

I looked at my minimap. After a moment there was a small list that appeared.

[bosses:

Primary Boss: Cursed King Hendric- Defeated

Secret Boss: Prisoner Knight Hale- Alive

Optional bosses:

Fool Malitric- Defeated.

Mad Man Mark- Alive

Slave Master Elizabeth- Alive.]

“There’s Hale, Mark and Elizabeth still alive...two Optional bosses and one secret boss.” I said honestly.

"Should probably avoid the secret boss. Those are always the strength of the next highest dungeon level. The Optional bosses might be a good challenge but will still be tricky as hell if we decide to fight one."

“Well...that’s not worrying at all.” I said sheepishly.

"The hardest of those two is Malitric. Not only is he extremely flexible and hard to hit he is a natural pyromancer class enemy and can eat spells cast at him."

"Then it's a good thing I wasn't going after him." A very un robotic voice spoke as she entered. Cassidy was… woah. She looked completely human. Her skin lightly tanned, hair a bright blond and eyes, Well, they were a ruby red but her eyes while looking human still looked slightly robotic. "I was trying for Elizabeth." She was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. And… well, damn… just damn…. That figure...

“Uh…” I blinked, continuing to stare at her like...damn.

I snapped back to reality as DJ licked my nose. "Focus." She said, turning to Cassidy. "Why are you after Slave Master Elizabeth?"

"She drops this item, a Nanobot injector." Cassidy said, DJ making an 'oh' expression. 

“I mean...can’t you just get that without coming here though?” I asked curiously.

"It's worth twenty five thousand rem." Cassidy said plainly. "It also only spawns in Optional boss or secret boss loot."

"Plus once those bots are injected she'll get a massive upgrade." DJ added. "For organics like you or me, they enhance all physical abilities by ten percent, but for a synthetic like Cassidy the first injection will modify and upgrade her body to be nearly identical to organic flesh. After that the injections work the same as with organics."

"Yup. It's why I need to get one. I am so over having my skin melting whenever anything with fire gets close." She said with a sigh.

“Well uh...we’ll get it.” I said, trying not to act like an idiot after staring at her for a good bit. “So where’s the Optional bosses?”

"You'd help me?" Cassidy asked.

“Of course I’d help.” I said with a smile.

"Hmm… you sure?" She said, holding up her arm with the Assistant symbol on it. There was something different about it, it had what looked like a presents bow in the center.

"Oh, so you were won." DJ said.

Cassidy nodded. "This very dungeon. The guy who won me asked if I wanted to go my own way or get a lift to the Allies Guild. I chose to stay. Gave me some stuff and we parted ways, but I didn't leave. Not without that upgrade."

DJ nodded, then looked at me. "People won like her can be free but there is a catch. If they team up or party with someone they have to be their allies for at least a year and will follow some similar rules to a familiar like me, but just altered a bit."

“Uh...that sounds a little weird but sure.” I said nervously.

"You sure?" Cassidy said. "You'd be stuck with me for a year."

“That’s not a problem.” I said honestly.

"If you're certain." Cassidy said, holding out her hand. I shook it. "Uhhh…" She said, looking confused. Did I…

"He's Izikai." DJ said.

"Oh. Then here." Cassidy took my arm with the assistant and held it above hers. There was a flash between both and in my hud a new hp and mp bar appeared along with Cassidy's name right under DJ's and my own. "There." She said. 

“Cool.” I nodded. “Hopefully I can do good for ya Cassidy.”

"Well, we can hope. So, as your familiar DJ there explained I am now bound to follow rules similar to those the familiars follow but the major difference is that I can self manage my own growth skills wise independently from yours."

"Yup. Whatever you can do, so can I, hence why I was able to bark Nothingness thorns earlier, but she can't use Nothingness unless she gets it for herself." DJ added.

“Also, she’s adorable.” I said while picking up my doggo and gently petting her. “And a good girl.”

DJ happily took the affection. "Cute." Cassidy said. "So, what gear do you have so far?"

“Uh...a lightsaber, my gun, Nothingness Thorns and a few other things.” I said honestly. “Fresh off the fact I’m forever kept away from my family.”

"At least you have a family." She countered… "I've got a built in ion cannon, a one handed battle axe I found a week or so ago and a few grenades."

“Sounds like quite a bit of weapons, and the better word would be ‘had’...I’m never allowed to go back home from what the priest said.”

"Nun." DJ corrected.

"And you might run into them here. It is possible. Rare but possible." Cassidy said. "In any case, Slave Master Elizabeth is actually in the sewers, in her shop. Down there expect bad smells, poisoned water, giant rats and possibly a shit monster or two."

“Sounds like BlightTown from Dark Souls.” I said honestly.

"Wanna go to that dungeon?" DJ asked.

“Excuse me?” I asked nervously.

"Blight town. It's a dungeon. Wanna go?" DJ asked again.

“I’d rather not, I was just making a comparison.” I said worriedly.

"Heh, well, come on, that bitch isn't gonna kill herself and the loot she drops, aside from what I want, is pretty good."

“Let’s hope for the best.” I said honestly while following along with Cassidy. “You know where she is?”

"Yeah. When I learned she drops that Injector I tried to fight her… And got scrapped… her fucking whip is bullshit."…”

“How bad was it?” I asked. “Cause ‘getting scrapped’ can mean quite a range of things.”

"Like I said, I got scrapped. Woke up in my camp about an hour later."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Good to know...but this time, you’ll have help, so you won’t get scrapped this time.”

"Alright, lead the way." DJ said with a nod.

The way to the sewers was a large hole in the ground near the castle walls. The smell was as expected, shitty. And yeah… shit monsters. The smell…

"How is it I have the stronger sense of smell and you're the one tossing cookies?" DJ asked me as I washed out my mouth again.

“Because dogs have this weird tendency to eat their own shit?” I coughed.

"As a dog of higher intelligence than most I am offended." DJ huffed.

"Come on you two, entrance to Elizabeth's shop is just around here." Cassidy said from a ways down the sewer.

"Alright, boss time." I said while preparing myself for the fight.

Turning the corner the walls changed from the basic bricks to a more artistic and well crafted marble. Granted it was stained and broken.

We entered through the ruined curtains and and inside I was met by cages filled with corpses and skeletons of various races, the whole room lit by these glowing rocks hung by ropes along the ceiling. "Huh." DJ said.

"Well...this is a very stylized room." I said simply.

"Typical slave traders." Cassidy shrugged.

"My my." We turned, looking up atop the cages there stood… is that an actual person? She had two long pigtails of shining blond hair, deep green eyes and a rather poofy scarlet and black red dress. "It would seem I have customers, but sadly not a product to sell. Would one of you like to rectify that?"

"That's the bitch." Cassidy said.

“Well then…” I started. “Good to know we’re fighting miss prim and bitchy.”

"Eh, can't even play along, oh well." Elizabeth sighed. Suddenly I felt something very hot wrap around my torso. I screamed as it burned me, and I was lifted into the air and slammed down hard.

"David!" DJ barked, licking my chin.

"Guess it's to the point then." She finished, her grip holding a leather wrapped handle and a red hot whip made from small chains floating around her. "Best of luck you three."

“Ow…” I groaned while getting up carefully. “Alright...so…” I raised my gun and tried to fire at the bitch.

Her chains flicked most of the bullets. One hit her arm. She smiled. "My turn." She said, her whip flying across at us, cutting through cages. Cassidy jumped and dodged and I was low enough to get missed completely. DJ gave off some barks of Nothingness as Cassidy and I took cover behind some more cages.

“So...I can now see why you got beaten the first time.” I said nervously.

"Like I said, her whip is bullshit." Cassidy huffed, her arms opening up and shifting into something akin to a cannon. "At least it's her only weapon."

“Yeah...now I understand...and as far as we know that’s her only weapon.” I said honestly.

"No it is, her boss listing says as much. At least for the version of her in this dungeon." Cassidy said, taking blind shots from our hiding spot. "Thankfully her lack of armor makes her just a bit weaker than most Optional bosses."

“Only problem is that stupid whip.” I frowned while getting out of cover real quick and firing at the lady.

Her whip was either acting on it's own or as an extension of herself as it deflected more bullets. Thankfully between Cassidy and my own fire, add in DJ's Nothingness barks and it was too much for the chain whip til finally…

Her head flipped back as a bullet hit home. Like a limp doll, she fell on her back. "Congratulations. You win." Elizabeth said as her body faded rather than melted. On the ground was a small wood and gold treasure chest.

“That wasn’t creepy at all.” I deadpanned while getting out from cover.

“That’s finally over…” Cassidy groaned. “Finally. Well, you got the killing shot, you open the loot box.”

“Alright, let’s hope it’s the thing you need.” I said while walking over to the small treasure chest and opened it.

A list appeared in my vision.

[Nanobot Injector x1

2,500 Rem

Slave Master Elizabith’s Chain Whip x1

200 5.56mm 

Slave Cuffs x3

Slave Cuff Keys x3

Healing Bandages x15

Med Grade Healing Potions x10]

“Well I got your Injector.” I said honestly. “And also her whip and a bunch of other things.”

“Sounds about right.” Cassidy nodded. “So, the injector?”

“Uh...how do I...take something out of my Assistant?” I asked nervously. “I haven’t done that yet…”

“Open your items menu, find the item, click it, and select remove when it appears.”

“Thank you.” I nodded while doing that exact thing for my robo friend.

I handed Cassidy the injector and after she took the cap off she pushed the needle tip under her false skin. The… whatever it is, flowed out and her body began to slowly glow silver and almost… vibrate for a moment, and when it was over she looked as she did before… save her eyes, her eyes looked human now. “Finally… No more melting skin.” She sighed happily. “So… Thanks. Guess now we just… go along places.”

“I guess yeah.” I said honestly. “Wonder where we should go next?”

“Wherever we want.”

I nodded, picking up DJ as Cassidy, DJ and I left these horrible sewers… Guess I can do whatever I want here. Guess it’s time to see what this world can show me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having spent a week in this new Reality, David does some exploring.

**Chapter 2**

  
  
  
  


It’s been a week since I arrived here. Cassidy moved in with DJ and I in that RV car… In the base. We’ve mostly been going in and out of the dungeon daily for the daily loot re spawns and enemies. I finally started using that Light Saber and I have to admit, I’ve been getting good at fighting. Gun in one hand, light sword in the other. I also learned how Skill Points are earned, and the answer is literally anything possible. In the case of upgrading my skills with my handgun I could kill fifty enemies with it, which I have, reload it a hundred times after emptying the mag, also have done, and basic daily maintenance. Still three hundred and fourteen times away from getting a point from that. Light Saber skill leveling is similar. Just hack a hundred enemies with it. 

I ducked, dodging a fireball from those fucking Flying Flames before shooting two bullets each into the four around me. DJ barked from her spot in between my back and backpack, dealing Damage to those fucking ‘villagers’ coming close. Cassidy was shooting off her arm cannon at some more of those ‘villagers’. “High spawn rate today.” Cassidy huffed, blowing four ‘villagers’ to bits.

“Hope that doesn’t mean a Blood Moon is coming soon.” DJ said, a bark sending a Nothingness thorn through two ‘villager’ heads.

“How bad is a blood moon?” I asked nervously.

“You know those gun wielding villagers? Yeah basically they all are those ones, The Shadow Creatures get some nasty buffs, Minibosses respawn and some special bosses spawn out in the Hazards Zones for the night to fight whoever.” Cassidy replied, kicking a Common Shadow up into the air that I put a bullet hole through it. “And that’s just the enemies for THIS dungeon. Mother save you if you’re near a level four or five dungeon.”

“Oh boy, that sounds like a nightmare and a half.” I said worriedly while cleaving a ‘villager’ with my lightsaber.

“It is. We best check the news to make sure it won’t be cause it won’t be safe to camp around here if it is.” Cassidy said, pulling a grenade from her back pack and tossing it. The explosion making a quick escape for us.

Once back at base Cassidy checked on her Assistant for Blood Moon news. “Damn it. There is one for tonight.” She huffed. “Guess we gotta head to the Safe Zones.”

“Would be a good time to grind though.” I pointed out.

“Yeah but it’s not easy. Most people just try and fight in blood moons when they are either level 2 or 3 dungeon crawling. We could take the chance to sell off the excess stuff we don’t need, maybe even get an upgrade for the base, cause as it is, it’s kinda small.”

“This is a level one dungeon...is it that hard?” I asked while checking to see what level I was after we beat that boss.

Still level one? Huh… “Something up?” DJ asked me.

“How am I still only level one?” I asked in confusion. “Even if we share experience, I should at least be level 2.”

“That’s not how Dungeon Leveling works. You gain skill points by doing all kinds of various tasks to get stronger, but to make it to the next dungeon level you have to beat every dungeon boss of typically… a hundred or so dungeons.”

“No, as in why am I still only level one when I just beat a miniboss.” I reiterated.

“We don’t ‘level up’ like that. We do tasks for skill points to get stronger. Head to your skill trees and tap the central tree.” Cassidy said. I did just that and when I tapped the central tree, various… roots? Maybe, yeah roots appeared. One for health, resistances, defense, strength, agjility, ect. “You put skill points in there along the way and that’s how you get stronger physically.”

“But...you get more skill points through leveling though…” I started.

“The Grandmaster didn’t make the system this way to be easy.” Cassidy shrugged.

“The grandmaster needs to look at more video games cause this really isn’t how a leveling system works.” I frowned.

“I doubt he cares.” DJ shrugged. “But Cassidy is right, you have like, ten other handguns that you don’t ever use.”

“Yeah, let’s just head to Coal Vein, sell some crap off, earn some cash and then hopefully upgrade the base.” Cassidy said.

“That would be good, yes.” I nodded.

With that, we headed off.

* * *

“That was more than I expected.” Cassidy said. In total, including what we had from pure rem drops, we managed to get 21 thousand rem, divided between the three of us, yes, DJ can also have her own rem, we each had seven thousand rem to spend. “I’m gonna go upgrade my Ion Cannon.” Cassidy said. 

“I’m going to the pet spa!” DJ said.

“And I have no idea what the hell I’m going to spend all this on.” I said worriedly.

“Maybe get some upgrades for your gear? Come on, the upgrade shop is where I’m headed anyway.” Cassidy said as I shrugged and followed.

The upgrades shop was fairly busy but all of it seemed… self service? Huh. Cassidy walked us up to one of these almost arcade looking booths. “Put your weapon in here.” She said, opening a bin. I put my handgun inside it and once it closed the screen flashed to life. It asked to scan my Assistant and once I let it the machine displayed my hand gun and various options. “Just pick your options and then pay.”

“There...are a lot of options.” I said honestly while looking through everything.

Sorting through them I went with mostly damage boosting upgrades and some better sights. Oh hello, Elemental damage upgrades? Yes please. Hmm… I’ll take the super heated bullet and electroshock gun bash options. Still 6,500 rem. Let's see what my lightsaber can have… hello!

Dual blade mod. Triple blade mod. Quad blade mod? Alter blade energies, they can add ice, wind, electricity- area of effect mods! Holy shit!

“Holy god there is a lot…” I said, not sure what to pick here since it’s all so good.

In the end, I got an altered energies mod so it not only cleaves through anything, it also does ice damage and an area of effect mod. Once charged I swing the blade and it unleashes an energy wave that travels through anything for ten feet. Now down to 5,980. Still a fuck ton… right, gotta see about the base upgrade.

I turned to Cassidy at the booth next to me, she was looking at her cannon arm. It looked a lot sleeker now.

“Nice looking cannon.” I said honestly.

"More energy efficient and more accurate. Damage is about the same but that's fine. So, off to find the base some upgrades."”

“Yep.” I nodded. “Still have a bunch of money still.”

"Then let's go." Cassidy said as we headed off. Apparently Upgrades for vehicles had its own shop, and once there the booths there linked to base via my assistant. Since this looked all gibberish to me I let Cassidy take over. "Hmm. Looks like with the current engine we can only have two more rooms added. If we upgrade the engine it will get us around faster and we can have way more rooms, up to twenty."

“Sounds about right. How much would it cost?”

"The engine upgrade… five grand." Cassidy sighed. "We can split the difference."

“I’d only have nine hundred and eighty after that.” 

"Like I said, we split the cost. I pay half you pay the rest and we keep enough for some extra stuff."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Let’s get us a new engine.”

With us splitting the cost for the new engine the machine was even able to install it through my Assistant. Shit these things can do everything. With that done I went shopping for new ammo types. They have armor pricing, incendiary, hollow point, explosive, ricochet… scatter shot, 10mm slugs? Tracking, plasma, emp, drill tip, spiral nuke… damn that not even a quarter of the bullet types.

“Oh god what do I even buy here?” I said worriedly, not sure if I should just buy as much as I can just in case or focus on one type.

I bought a few of each type to try them each out and after that went to buy food. We didn't need it but diversity is always good. With the shopping done I met back up with DJ, the small dog looking like she was ready for a dog show that day. "Hi! How's your shopping go?" DJ asked.

“It went well, how was your spa day?” I asked while kneeling down and petting DJ.

"Great. My coat's all soft and brushed now. So, what are we gonna do next?"

"Probably just park the base someplace in the safe zones and camp out the blood moon." Cassidy said with a shrug.

“I can tell, you are so soft and fluffy.” I chuckled. “But what next? I...don’t actually know honestly.”

"Tell you what." Cassidy said, standing in front of me. "You're Isikai, so, make a list of all the 'fiction' from your world and we can find and explore those areas, places and get the items from those places. Sound fair?"

“But there’s like...dozen’s…” I said nervously.

"It's not like we don't have the time. Remember, we've got a long ass time to live. So long as we avoid Level 5 dungeons and avoid Void Admins we'll be good. Time Walkers will only mess with us if we're risking Madness but you're like, twenty and technically I'm four months old but, synthetic, so, eh. Time is on our side."

“Excuse me but...Void Admins?”

"I mentioned those before." DJ said. "Admins that control the flow of the Void within reality."

“I think I missed that along with all the other things I have to know…” I said nervously.

"Basically it's like this." Cassidy began as we sat down on a nearby bench. "There's a ranking to Divine beings. There's Demi God, God, Eldritch, then Heir. Those are the Divine rankings a person can achieve through hard work and good skill point management/grinding. To become an Admin, takes an item called Mothers Blessing. With that anyone can ascend to being an Admin. Admins can do things a lot like the mother can but to a far lesser degree. Void Admins though are unique, the Void and Existence used to be completely separate entities and somewhat still are, but they can co exist in the same reality thanks to The Mother. Because of how void interacts though it tends to twist and corrupt things around it. So, the Grandmaster and the void Admins use the void to control corrupt environments and enemies. Sometimes entire planets even can be void tainted but only if it's a void admin who colonized it. Typically they will just keep their station in a dungeon to make sure everything inside the dungeon is void tainted but not the area, unless it's an Arena Dungeon. Basically Void Dungeons, planets and locations are extremely hard. A level one void dungeon is more like a level four and a level five void dungeon, only one has ever been cleared in the whole of history. The risk to those is crazy high but the rewards are equally as high.

"Void Admins are allowed to be a boss in the dungeon they oversee if they wish, but they carry the ability to perma kill you just like level five dungeon bosses."

“That’s...quite a lot of information.” I said honestly.

"In other words, just avoid them." DJ said, Cassidy nodding.

"Well, come on then. Let's head back to base so you can make that list." Cassidy said as we headed out.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “It’s gonna be a long list…”

We made it back to the base and while I sat on the couch with a notebook to make my list Cassidy began adding rooms to the base. My list isn't done by far, so far it's just all I've thought off the top of my head.

"Alright." Cassidy said, sitting down on the couch next to me. "We each got our own bedrooms, bathrooms, a workshop and storage rooms. And still leftover room slots for way more."

“Sweet.” I nodded. “And I’m making a list of all the places I could think of off the top of my head.”

"Any plans on what to do once there?" DJ asked.

“Just look around?” I shrugged. “Not sure honestly.”

"Maybe get into a fight, get some weapons? Compete in a round. Eh, eat the food?" Cassidy offered with a shrug. 

“There’s quite a bit I can do.” I said honestly. “But we won’t know until we get there.”

"Well, which is first?" DJ asked.

“Well...it would probably be Team Fortress 2 since it’s a simple enough start.” I said honestly.

"That's the game title. Hmm… doubt we can find any place like that on this world. Guess we better find the closest city with a warp gate. Doubt the base can handle a space trip that long."

“I doubt this thing can even go into space.” I said honestly.

"If It can't then the upgrade for that will be a pain in the ass to buy." Cassidy sighed. "So, I'll look up which nearby city has a warp gate and what world has that TF2 thing. Aside from Homeworld that is."

"It's on...an Earth." I said nervously, needing to remember there's probably a ton of different Earth's out there.

"What do you think Homeworld is? Well, technically it's Earths plus all the other old planets but eh." Cassidy said, then taking note of my confusion. "Need an explanation?"

"Please." I sighed out. "What the hell is 'Homeworld'?"

"Okay so you already know that this reality was once a massive collection of co existing multiverses, well after The Mother came into existence and all that jazz every planet in those multiverses came together and formed one single planet. Planets with or without life all came together and formed a single livable massive world the size of a few universes, their suns and moons all coming together in a similar way forming a single world where all lived. Once that was done The Mother made it so the now combined multiverses were also one and filled with blank unexplored worlds that become habitable and populated with plants, animals, dungeons ect, but that part you know. Every world colonized since then is only about half of Homeworld's size but still, Homeworld is so massive there's still a lot of unexplored areas on it's surface. And don't even think about it's oceans, sun and moon. And so we have unlimited exploration as the blank worlds are forever coming into being just like the universe is forever growing to keep itself infinite."

“Well...that’s...quite a bit.” I blinked.

"Not to mention all the in between stuff." DJ added. "Comets, asteroids, monsters, Dungeons, ect. But in space." Cassidy simply nodded. "Plus the dimensions. Like the Familiars dimensions, the spawn loot dimension, heaven, hell, Purgatory, ect."

“Huh...that’s...quite a bit of things…” I said honestly.

"That's our reality." Cassidy said with a shrug. "So, I'm gonna look into your TF2 trip for a bit. Guess you and DJ can check out your rooms."

“Alright.” I nodded while heading off to look through the rooms. “Wonder what all the rooms will have?”

I opened the door that normally entered the bedroom I was now met with a hallway. On one right was three doors. One was blank with no door knob but had a doggie door. DJ.

The second was wood and nice looking but had Cassidy's name on it. The last door was a solid wood painted white with my name on it. On the left side were two doors. Both more metallic. One simply had the name Workshop painted on it while the other had the word Storage painted on it. I opened the storage door and inside was… holy sweet mother of God… this is a three story industrial warehouse! And it's empty… save for like, two boxes.

“Jesus lord how does all of this fit in here?” I asked nervously.

I took some steps in, headed to the boxes. Both had Cassidy's name on them. Huh, well, best leave those alone then. With some slight blown mind I headed out of storage and went into workshop. This room was about the size of a large garage. In one corner several boxes filled with some of the raw material stuff we gathered from that dungeon. On the other side was what looked a lot like a vending machine with a large sliding door on one side of it. Next to that thing was a smaller machine with two small bulbs above a flat metallic bottom surface.

“Cool.” I nodded. “This is pretty great when we’re just randomly collecting crap.”

"Neat." DJ said as she entered. "Fabricators." She said, looking at the two machines.

“I believe these just make whatever you want?” I asked curiously.

"About. Big ones make weapons, vehicles, ammo, clothes, ect, smaller ones make the upgrade modules, mods and ect." She said with a nod. "Just need the materials. Cheaper than always buying but the grind can be a pain."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded.

"You checked your room yet?"

“Not yet.” I said honestly. “I was busy looking at everything else first.” I shrugged.

"Go check it out. You gotta decorate the place."

"God only knows how long that'll take." I sighed out while heading to my room.om.

I opened the door and… woah. The room was massive. Bigger than the workshop but way smaller than the storage room. It was two floors but the second floor was like an indoor patio overlooking the front door and half the bottom floor area. The room was barren, save for a couch and TV just under the indoor patio, and upstairs from that was a bed with a night stand. So far just the basics. Looking down I saw there was a screen built into the wall next to the door. Walking back down and over to it it gave me options for decoration. Ones that came default, ones to buy, wall paper/paint, ect. I'll mess with that in a bit. I ran back up the stairs to the bed area patio and opened a door on the wall. I was met with a large walk-in closet. Nice.

There was another door next to it. Opening it was the bathroom and by God this is beautiful. Private toilet, shower and bathtub, a small towel closet, and was about as big as the base was when I first got it.

“Wow...this is amazing.” I said in surprise. I headed back out and looked around til I was back at that decorations wall screen. I got myself a desk, few shelves. Don't have photos for the picture frames. Guess I'll buy some posters later. With a sigh I headed up to my bed and laid on it, sighing. Been a week already and still so much I can't believe. 

“Maybe some sleep will help me...process all this crap…” I groaned.

With a yawn I kicked my shoes off and went under the sheets. I looked around, not seeing a light switch… hmm. I clapped, the lights flicking off. I chuckled at that as I went to sleep.

* * *

I woke up some hours later to the wet lick of a dog tongue across my nose. "Wake up, you gotta see this David." DJ's voice spoke from next to me.

"Can you not lick my nose again?" I huffed while getting up. "But what's wrong?"

"The blood moon is up! You gotta see it, it's your first ever blood moon!"

"I thought it was best to just ignore it?" I asked curiously while heading out to see the bloodmoon.

"Well, yeah, but we're in the safe zones so nothing's gonna attack us, besides you've never seen one before so it's gotta be cool." The little dog said. As I walked down the steps I noticed DJ walking against the wall down the steps. "It's all red and pulsating and creepy and everything has a slight red tint and stuff."

"That does sound interesting." I said honestly. "And creepy."

DJ and I headed out and once outside I was met by a pitch black night sky, illuminated only by the crimson red moon above. A thump echoed through the air itself much like a heartbeat as the sounds of battle in the hazards zones made their way back here. "Spooky." DJ said.

"Spooky indeed." I nodded in agreement.

"Maybe someday we can fight during one of these." DJ said, sitting down as I sat on the ground next to her. "Gonna take a picture?"

"Might as well." I shrugged while taking a picture of the scenery as it was.

I took a few pictures, the Assistant of course can also be a camera. With that done I headed back inside where Cassidy left dinner for me on a plate. Once I ate that, I went back to bed.

“Alright...now some sleep would be good…” I sighed out, “God today has been...a lot of things…”

That night I dreamed about going to an amusement park. It was like… every amusement park ever all crammed into one endless fun park, and the lines were reasonable too.

I woke up the next morning with a stretch and a… what is? I opened my eyes, and the giant stuffed tiger I won in one of my dreams games was next to me in bed… and hey that's my hotdog… and… I got up, walked to the bathroom and saw the red lipstick of that super hot kissing booth lady still on my lips… uhh… that was a dream… right?

“Uh...DJ? The hell happened to me while I was asleep?” I asked worriedly.

There was a puff of blue and white by my feet, the small doggo looking pretty sleepy herself still. "Yeah?" She asked, yawning as she blinked a few times and looked up at me. "You look like you had fun… do I smell a hot dog?"

“Yes but uh...where did I go in my sleep? Cause I was at a fair in my dreams but...why do I have things?”

"Cause you were in the sleeping realm." DJ said with a yawn. "Stuff you get or do there you get here. Most people first enter the sleeping world after the age of fifteen or so, but in the case of Isikai like yourself it can take a week to a month for you to first enter it. Once you have you return there every night you sleep."

“Uh...so...everything I did there was real?” I asked nervously.

"Yup." She said, shaking her head as her eyes opened properly. She then got a good look at me. "Oh, you did have fun!"

“Uh...maybe?” I said sheepishly.

"Well, I'm gonna find and eat that hot dog, you clean up."

“Fine fine.” I said. “Uh...I have extra clothes right…” I muttered while checking to see if I have extra clothes and towels and other basic personal cleaning products.

Thankfully I did. I got a nice hot shower and kept thinking back to that dream… so, even dreams are explorable and you can have a lot of fun there. And I certainly did have fun… I have got to get that kissing booth girl's number… do they even use numbers here? Eh.

With my shower done and clothes changed I headed out for Breakfast, and once in the living room the scent of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and chocolate filled the air. The self cooking and cleaning kitchen is amazing.

“Thank god the automated cooking works...and that smells amazing.” I sighed out happily.

"Morning." Cassidy said, my notebook with my list of places to go in her hand and a tablet in the other. "Good news is, there's a space warp that can take us to a TF2 themed place some worlds away. The drive will be about a day even with the upgrades to the engine but there is a few dungeons along the way we can stop at to rest up and stretch our legs before we arrive at the warp gate in Spiral City."

"Sounds good to me." I nodded.

"What's the nearest dungeon?" DJ asked.

"Vial Pit." Cassidy said.

"What difficulty is it?" I asked.

"One."

"Well...either of you want to go there?" I inquired.

"Sure, their's good loot and it's fairly popular." Cassidy said.

"Name aside it's not a poison based dungeon, it's a haunted maze dungeon filled with undead based enemies." DJ said. "Lots of neat stuff."

“Cool.” I nodded. “Can’t wait to explore it.”

"Hope you like haunted mazes." Cassidy said.

“Mazes are going to be annoying first of all...and now haunted mazes are going to be more annoying.”

"Still could be fun." DJ said. "and it's not that big either."

“It’s still a maze so it could still take forever.” I said honestly.

"Maybe. All in all the loot will be worth it though. It's theme is old ruins, I'm talking Built then abandoned, those types always have higher amounts of valuables. Rem, gold, silver, jewels, and fancy decorative crap like that." Cassidy said with a smile.

“Sounds like a wonderful time.” I nodded with a smile. “Well then let’s get going.”

With breakfast wrapped up and everything picked up Cassidy set the destination in the GPS and the base flew...drove? One of those two at super speeds. We would be at the Vial Pit in an hour.

Cassidy got up. "Might as well make a vault room. Could come in handy if we ever end up broke."

"The storage room won't do?" DJ asked.

"It can but a proper vault room to hold the super valuables that just fits better with me." Cassidy said as she got up. I turned to watch her go and saw… huh, so DJ has an Assistant too if that tiny holo screen in front of her means anything.

“Yeah that’s fine.” I nodded. “Keeps our stuff safer if someone decides to break in.”

While Cassidy did that I watched YouTube and mostly just relaxed. Once we arrived the entrance to the maze was an almost Rome style twin pillar with broken doors on the floor. The walls were all stone so aged I'm surprised they aren't rubble.

“I thought you said this was a dungeon, not the fucking Parthenon.” I said honestly.

"I also said it was a maze." Cassidy added. "So expect a Minotaur or… two...three…" She shrugged. "Still a level one dungeon so not too bad strength wise."

“Sounds more Greek than Roman but...well Roman’s basically stole everything from the Greeks so eh.” I shrugged. “So are you two ready?”

"Yup." DJ nodded.

Cassidy turned her arm into her cannon. "As I'll ever be."

I took out my handgun and light saber and we entered.

* * *

Safe room, safe room, safe room! 

DJ, Cassidy and I jumped into the safe room, dodging the glowing blue club of the fifteen foot ghost Minotaur. Surprisingly, some of the special bullets I got can hurt it but this thing is strong and it's a bitch.

"Damn fucking ghost Minotaurs." Cassidy huffed.

“Okay that’s kind of bullshit.” I frowned. “How the hell do they expect us to hurt a goddamn ghost minotaur this early?”

"It's a wandering boss." DJ huffed, laid flat on her belly. "It's more a chance if you run into it than you have to."

“My point still stands though.” I sighed out, gently petting DJ.

“Guess we aren’t the only one stuck cause of that ass.” Cassidy said. I turned to see and in the corner of the safe room was some guy hunched over.

“Uh...didn’t see them there.” I said nervously. “Hello?” I asked the man hunched over.

There was a quick blur, then I got a good look at them. They seemed… maybe about my age? Or not given people here age… weird if at all. He has grass green hair, eyes to match, these old glass and leather goggles on his forehead. His clothes were a brown shirt under a white coat, a long neck scarf wrapped around his neck and brown cargo pants. He looked at us and smiled. “Yo.” He said with a small wave, still hunched over. “Nice to see you… sorta. Can’t really look up at the moment.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked curiously.

"Oh, just my back. That big ass ghost bull rammed me and I haven't been able to stand straight since."

"Here." Cassidy said, walking over to him and pulling him up. There were multiple auditory pops and cracks from the guy.

"Oh sweet baby... ahhh." He sighed in relief. "Thank you. Names John, but people call me Junker John." 

“Names David.” I nodded. “Feeling better now that your back isn’t messed up?”

"Much." Junker John said.

"Cassidy." Cassidy said with a pat to his back before she walked back over to me.

"And I'm DJ." DJ said.

"Neat. So, what brought you three here?" Junker John asked as he stretched.

“The adventure of taking every valuable thing that isn’t nailed down in this dungeon.” I said honestly.

"Oh, neat. I'm looking for anything that's old. Love old stuff, used to dig through trash and junkyards, it's how I got the nickname." Junker John said with a sigh. 

“Sounds about right.” I nodded. “So do you know how to hurt that thing?” I asked honestly. “Cause while I have bullets that can hurt it...I don’t really have enough.”

"Magic works better, anything with a blessed, divine or holy/heavenly enchantment really does the trick. There's a lot of ways really. You don't have any?" Junker John asked.

“I just got here like a week ago if less.” I started.

"So no. I think I have some spares, hang on." John said as he began reaching into his coat pockets, far further than should be. Pocket dimensions.

“I hate the pun I thought of…” I muttered to myself bitterly.

"Guns, swords or magic?" John asked.

“I have a gun, a lightsaber, and Nothingness thorns.” I told him.

"So gun then."

"I'll take magic." DJ said.

With a nod Junker John handed Cassidy a silver and golden handgun that was pretty damn beautiful. He then handed me a… hello. He gave me a semi automatic riot shotgun and three boxes of white slugs. "Blessed Slugs." He said, then handed me a small scroll with a golden thread. "Blessed fire, for your familiar."

"Cool." I nodded while doing the proper stuff to give DJ blessed fire.

The scroll once I opened it self incinerated, and a notification appeared in my vision.

[New Skill Branch Obtained.

Magic.

Spell - Blessed Fire]

“Cool.” I nodded. “So is this only for DJ or do we both got it?”

"You both." Cassidy said. "Familiars can only use spells, abilities, and attacks their master knows."

"Isikai?" John asked.

"Yup." Cassidy said with a nod.

“Thank you.” I nodded. “Good to know for later...oh also, how many familiars is a person allowed to have at one time?”

"Depends. If you set yourself up properly you can have hundreds at the snap of your fingers but even so you can still own as many as you find." Junker John said with a shrug.

“Alright, good to know.” I nodded. “So, we ready to deal with Ghost Cow?”

"With these, should be easier." Cassidy said with a nod as DJ barked approval.

"Mind if I tag along?" John asked. 

"What for?" Cassidy asked.

"You could use the help, and I've dealt with Isikai people before."

“The more the merrier I suppose.” I shrugged. “Plus, the more things happening can keep pushing away the crippling sense of dread I have ever since I learned I can never go home again.”

"Heh, tell me about it." John chuckled.

“I mean...you have dealt with people like me before so I can see why.” I said simply.

"Not just that." John said as he reached into his coat pockets, pulling out a small gold and silver dagger. "I'm Isikai too."

"Wait, seriously?" Cassidy asked, surprised as I was. "You seem so… well adjusted."

"Well it was four billion years ago." John shrugged.

“Excuse me?” I frowned. “That makes no sense...how are you over four billion years old? And if you're that old, how did you have trouble dealing with a level one dungeon boss?”

"You forget we don't exactly age like you did before arriving here do you?" Cassidy asked while giving me a deadpan look.

"To answer your second question. Pure laziness." John said with a shrug. 

“Right…” I said slowly. “Could do worse I suppose.” I shrugged, starting to load my new shotgun.

"So what made you decide to get up and do stuff?" DJ asked.

"Got bored. Figured about time I see what dungeons had to offer." John said with another shrug. "Spent most of the time before now learning about all the cool stuff."

"Like?" Cassidy asked.

"Electronics, magic, weapon crafting, general maintenance, the guilds, ect." John said.

“That seems pretty weird how you spent four billion years doing literally nothing...also physically impossible…”

"You underestimate my resolve, good sir." John joked. "I did do other stuff, sight see mostly, but I did spend a lot of time wherever I went in libraries. I did spend a billion years in the Library of Alexandra, it's where I learned most of what I know. Nice place."

"Cool." Cassidy said. "That's a planet sized library."

"Plus it's moon and sun for extra storage." DJ added.

“Wait, I thought the Library of Alexandria was just a big library, how did it become the size of a planet?”

"Oh that's just the building, inside it's a pocket dimension the size of a few galaxies." John said with a laugh. "Holds every book ever written, and some say every book that will be written. I wouldn't know that though, there are certain restricted wings I wasn't able to get into so it's all a mystery."

“Huh...that’s very interesting.” I said honestly.

"Wanna go there?" DJ asked me.

“Sooner or later.“ I shrugged.

With that we all headed out. The big ass horned ass was still there waiting, but these blessed weapons made him more a joke than a threat. Thank. God. He did drop his club though. None of us could lift the damn thing but it would sell for a nice price. "The boss of this Dungeon is supposed to still be alive. We kill him and he drops a haul of treasures." John said. 

"Like gold and such?" Cassidy asked.

"Yup, and all that cool stuff. I mostly just want the rusted and broken drops."

“And then we’re just gonna have to deal with this being a goddamn labyrinth…” I sighed out.

"Why do you obsess with junk and broken crap." Cassidy asked.

"Heh. See those guns you're using. Bought them off a guy for ten rem each. When I got them your handgun was two shots away from exploding and that shotgun was missing it's stock and lacked a trigger, springs rusted to hell and the barrel was cracked. I fixed them." At hearing them Cassidy and I looked the weapons over. They looked basically new. "I love junk cause I love fixing them up, improving them, it's fun." 

I was about to say something when a loud roar stopped me. Down the path we were on was three of those damned minotaur ghosts! Are you fucking with me?!

“Oh are you fucking kidding me!?” I panicked at seeing three more of those bastards.

"The hell?!" Cassidy yelled.

"This is not our lucky day." DJ yipped.

"Uh, anybody got a grenade?" John asked.

“Okay, step back, I’m gonna do something stupid.” I said while bringing out a ball of Nothingness Thorns and tried to enchant it with Blessed Fire.

As I tried to do that… It exploded. Not enough to break my hand but enough to hurt and leave some burns. "You'll need an Overlap ability to do that. Grenade? Anyone?" John asked again as those three got closer.

"Here!" Cassidy gave John the explosive while she poured a potion over my burns. 

I looked between John taping something onto the grenade as my burns started healing. He taped this crystal, I think it was an elemental crystal. It was a molten red and white as if it was hot metal. However it had a purple/black aura inside and around it. "We might wanna run." John said, pulling the pin off the grenade and tossing the odd crystal towards the ghosts as Cassidy, DJ, John and I all ran the other ways seconds later a sudden explosion that felt like being near the impact of a tank shell sent us flying a few feet onto the ground as a heat made the temperature rise from the coolness the maze normally had to feeling like a ninety degree day. When it ended and the temperature began dropping I looked up. All three were gone and the walls while still standing were scorched pitch black. "Oh thank Mother that worked." John huffed.

“Okay so...glad that happened.” I groaned, still in pain from my hand blowing up.

"You seriously blew up a corrupted elemental Crystal?" Cassidy asked as she got up and brushed herself off. She then helped DJ get the dust off her fur.

"Hey it worked didn't it? Those corrupted shits blow up when they get so much as scratched. At least it was enough to kill them." John replied.

“Maybe give us a bit more of a warning than ‘we might wanna run’ next time?” I frowned.

“Welp, let’s head on then.” DJ said. “The boss of this place is.... Slave King Duusen.”

“Slave King?” Cassidy asked as she handed me the small dog. 

“The lore made up for this place is that he was the strongest slave of the minotaurs and overthrew the tyrant king that owned his people. That’s the blunt of it anyway.” DJ said.

“And...was he a better ruler than the tyrant or just as bad?” I asked nervously.

“I only know the general, you’d have to read the legends of the Dungeon Bosses to learn the whole story.” DJ sighed.

Once we got back on our feet we headed further in. The Shadow Creatures in here were easy to deal with. Eventually though we came across a large set of doors with a single decorative keyhole on them. “This is it. Ready?” Cassidy asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be~” John sang… huh, a Tangled reference.

“Same.” DJ added.

"Let's hope for the best." I said while preparing myself for the boss fight.

We pushed open the doors, the inside lighting up with bright torches hung on the walls. Around the walls piling high above was the glittering shiny metal of gold, silver, jewls and other valuables all in the form of weapons, armors, decorative furniture, coins, bars, even the raw ores all laid around this room. In the center kneeled a Minotaur, dressed in tattered robes of red and white, a cracked blood stained crown atop his head and a massive cleaver sword in hand. “Tyrant’s gold belongs to the people. The wealth was shared and this is all that remains. Reward for the one, who can defeat me.” The boss, Dussen said as he stood at a towering twenty seven feet. “Are you strong enough?”

"Let's find out." I said while firing a bolt of Nothingness thorns at him.

He got a scratch across his arm. He raised his blade up and we all just offloaded into him. By the time he finally got his first swing in we all needed to reload and as we dodged his attack. I put the shotgun away and took out the handgun. I loaded this clip with these AP Drill bullets and fired. The boss roared as his wounds bled. Thankfully with numbers on our side, the boss fell. He fell to his knees. “Hehe. Strength in Numbers. Stand united until you can stand alone.” And like with Elizabith rather than melt or dissolve he just faded.

All the gold and such around here then vanished, my hud telling me.

[Slave King Dussen Defeated.

Dungeon Cleared.

Rewards earned:

Gold Coins x9,386

Silver Coins x9,720

Gold Bars x783

Silver Bars x254]

The list went on… for a while. Christ these bosses drop a shit ton of stuff.

“Okay so uh...fuck…” I blinked. “That’s...a _ lot _ of loot…”

“That’s how it is.” John stated with a nod. “Dungeon main bosses will drop the most items both in value, rarity, ect. Optional bosses always drop more rare items but they also drop far less and give more of a challenge.”

“I mean, that’s how it normally works in video games.” I said honestly.

“It’s also pretty random over all. Mostly. The gold and such are all to be expected from this type of dungeon but the majority of the loot is still random.” DJ added.

“Yup. So, anything rusted and broken?” John asked.

“Oh, uh.” Cassidy said, looking through her Assistant. “Some stuff. A few guns, swords, spears. Some armor…”

“Great! I will fix them up at your place.”

“Wait, what?”

“You all seem fun, plus new guy here,” John said, suddenly next to me and patting my back. “Could use someone with experience getting tossed here.”

“Well...I don’t see why not I suppose.” I shrugged.

“Sweet! Let’s go… where are we going?” John asked.

Cassidy just shook her head. “Fine. We’re headed to Fortress. It’s over on War Grounds.”

“Oh. Been there. Neat place.” John said.

“You know about Team Fortress 2?” I asked curiously.

“Mostly just from my time there. Spent most of it looking through the museums, arenas, and even took a few classes on the, well, classes of fighters they have.” John said.

“Cool.” I nodded.

With that we all got out of this damned dungeon and back to base. Cassidy got a room set up for John who immediately began decorating/making use of our workshop while Cassidy began placing some of the higher grade valuables into our vault and selling off the excess. With two more hours til we arrive at the next dungeon area I decided to check in on our veteran Isekai. He was working on what looked like it was once a halberd, rusted to flaking and cracked along the shaft. “You have questions?” John asked, still working from his table on the weapon without looking over to me.

“A lot of questions…” I sighed out.

“Shoot.”

“What’s it like doing all...this from our point of view?” I asked.

“To be honest, it was a dream come true for me.” John started. “I was always sick back home. Never healthy enough to go outside unless it was into the car for the next hospital trip. The only places I ever escaped too were books and TV. Something tells me you and I might not be from the same time, if even the same world. What year was it for you back on your earth?”

"A train wreck, otherwise known as 2020." I said honestly.

"Heh. That bad? Try 1940 and be Jewish." Oh shit. "Yup. Survived that shit by ending up here."

“That’s bad…” I said nervously. “But in 2020...it’s just one massive fuck up after another...so world war 3 almost started in January, Australia as a whole was still on fire during February, a global pandemic started march...race protests devolving into race riots in America because police brutality in...I think July…” I sighed out. “It’s just one fuck up after another, and I’m pretty sure aliens would have appeared sooner or later…”

"Sounds like a good time as ever to end up here then." John replied. "Still, not sure if it was the same earth. Who was leading the Nazis on your earth?"

“Adolf Hitler.” I answered.

"Hmm… when did yours start? Your WW2 I mean."

“September first, nineteen thirty nine.” I said honestly.

"Then we are from different earth's. Mine began in nineteen thirty two. August." John said with a sigh. "When they took me I was just left to die in the camps. A week later I almost did, but, then I woke up in those churches. The Daughter of the Mother there found and healed me. My illness never came back, and I was, well, free to do whatever."

“That’s good.” I nodded. “Good thing you got out of there when you could...even if it was out of the blue.”

"All in all, I guess it was just luck. Anyway, any other questions?"

“How big is this place?” I asked curiously. “Like...this entire world?”

"Heh, too big to put in words. Homeworld is even bigger. A lot of people, Izikai especially, spend all the years traveling the worlds and space in between."

“Huh...that’s very interesting.” I said honestly. “How strong can people get?”

"Well, pretty damn strong. The strongest almost always get into the Mother's Sons, and their strongest member currently is Jericho the Undead. They say he can shatter and break I.K 7 metal bare handed. That feat alone takes a million times more force and energy than our realities big bang."

“Oh...sweet lordy that’s a lot of force.” I blinked.

"Heh, well yeah. Being that strong for a level five is basically a requirement. More so if it's void tainted and if the rumors are true about the Grandmaster's plans then it will just keep making people get stronger."

“Isn’t there a point where people just...stop becoming stronger?” I asked.

"So far, no." John said with a sigh. "You stop when you want to and that is about all there is to it. Your limit is where you put it."

“Right then.” I nodded. “Good to know…”

"Anything else?"

“Um…” I hummed, trying to think of another question because there’s...too many to pick from. “Alright, so I was told that you can ‘win’ people from dungeons...how the hell does that work and why does it sound weird?”

"Heh. It is pretty weird but basically it works like this. There's a dimension known as Loot Spawn, it's where all the loot that dungeons and enemies drop actually comes from. Because of how the Loot Spawn dimension works people pop up there too, so the Grandmaster figured, make them rewards too. Depending on the person depends on how they are classes. Cassidy for example is an Ally class. They follow the same rules as familiars for a year then can be like you or me, free to do whatever. It's not a mandatory requirement it's more their leader, in this case you, making sure they get well adjusted to life. There's other classes too, Lover, Servant, Ally, and lastly Adopted. Adopted is unique in that you get either a child or infant to raise and they don't have any requirements, for obvious reasons, and well, it's basically instant parenthood unless you hand them over to the Orphanages. Which is BS when they do that."

“Huh…” I started. “Uh...considering I’m going to bring Diablo 3 into this, are there ‘Treasure Goblins’ in dungeons? Rare spawns that drop great loot if you kill them fast enough, or drop portals to this Loot Spawn dimension or something there of?”

"Yes and it's tickets." John nodded. "Tickets for an hour in Loot Spawn typically appear in level four and fives but have sometimes spawned in level one, two and three dungeons, just really rare if they do."

“So it’s basically an hour of free rain taking whatever you want?” I asked curiously.

"Pretty much. Getting a ticket for Loot Spawn is better than winning the lottery."

“I can imagine. God only knows what you could find in there without any opposition.” I said honestly.

"So, anything else?"

“Um...what are the things that make up this world? Cause so far I’ve been...confused as to why Time and Space are elements and why Kingdom Hearts is involved here.”

"Heh, I know. But, as far as I can tell, everything from my world I believed to be stories and fiction, legends and myth, exist here as pure tried and true reality. You've learned the same I believe. All in all it's all true no matter what world you end up here from all their worlds fantasies are real here."

“If this is all....like that, then why was there a war to begin with?” I asked. “It’s not like there was any lack of anything. Resources aren’t finite, you can literally make pocket dimension rule if you so chose, and even if it was for the fun of it there isn’t really much reason to when there’s better things to do so what the hell?”

"Oh, you mean from before the Mother, right?"

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I know it’s forever ago so no one remembers it but...it’s still a very weird thing don’t ya think?”

"From the books I've read, it was against the original maker of reality, and back then reality wasn't quite so infinite. The full details were missing but basically the maker of the original reality didn't make it possible to be infinite. The war against him that made The Mother was basically how the old Heroes broke out of their finite prison and reshaped reality to its current infinite state."

“Huh...sounds kinda Gurren Lagann to me.” I said honestly.

"Heh, sorta. Anymore questions?"

“Who is the Grandmaster?” I asked curiously. “Cause I keep hearing them be called that but...no idea who or what they are.”

"Heh, that's a story. According to books and stories the Grandmaster was one of the original Heroes who fought against the original maker of reality. He didn't become one with the mother as most of the others did, rather chose to bear witness and fight alongside. When all was over Mother gave him the title of Grandmaster, and he oversees all the dungeons, the Loot Spawn dimension and all the arenas. His name is Lord, Lord the Admin of Imagination, but everyone calls him Grandmaster these days."

“So he would know about all the crap that happened before?” I asked curiously, more invested in this worlds history than before.

"Yeah but he doesn't talk to people often. Mostly he just makes announcements and does oversee the level five ranked arena matches, but that's about every hundred years they host the main ones and those are the only times anyone sees him."

“Ah, alrighty then.” I nodded. “Good to know.”

"Yeah, some of the Mother's Sons and Daughters might know, given their top ranked members are almost all from then, then there's the Time Walkers who would definitely know, but I highly doubt they'd say anything."

“So it’s all ‘hush hush’ basically?”

"More or less. But that's just how the Time Walkers are really, secretive and sneaky. Aside from becoming one the only way into their main base is when your time's up or if one owes you."

“I’m sure that’s happened plenty of times with people.” I said honestly.

"Don't know for sure. There's stories but when it comes to anything about the time Walkers a grain of salt is advised when it comes to things like their inner workings. Anything else you wanna know about?"

“Hmm…” I hummed. “Are there any hub towns or cities?” I asked curiously.

"Yeah. Where Cassidy has us heading, Spiral City, is the hub city/capitol of this planet. Mainly because it's where the guy who colonized this planet landed. It's kinda an unspoken rule that they set it up that way. Back on Homeworld it's Connection City, capitol of this whole kingdom of reality. Home to the Mother herself and all that."

"Huh...that's good to know." I nodded.

"Next question." John asked as he picked away at the rust that was flaking.

"What made you want to fix junk?" I asked curiously.

"It, heh. It actually started when I was tossed into that camp by the Nazis. They'd toss rusted knives, ruined clothes and such, and I read a lot of books on repair and maintenance, so I used what I could. Fixed what I could. It was the only way to pass the time. When I arrived here I found some adventures tossing some broken stuff out and… I took it and began working on how to repair them."

“Cool.” I nodded. “Glad you found a thing you're good at during all...that…”

"Anything else?"

“Um...what’s the strongest material? Cause you mentioned it before...I.K. 7 or something like that?”

"I.K.7. And it's not the strongest metal. The current strongest is known as D.T-9. and it is so much damn stronger than I.K. 7. It makes I.K. 7 look like iron. D.T-9 is worth over two million per ounce and is dense enough that it can survive almost any impact and sharp enough that it can slice through hundreds of level five dungeons and never dull."

“Huh...that’s quite something.” I said honestly.

"And there's always a new one the Grandmaster makes every so many years he adds to reality. Anything else?"

“The hell are Admins?” I asked. “I think this is the...third or fourth time I’ve heard them? I might have gotten a brief explanation on what Void Admins are but...still.”

"Back when reality was finite, Admins were the ones who crafted realities and universes. Everything from basic things like breathing, water, air, Admins invented well before the multiverse existed and well before The Mother. These days people who become Admins have the best chances at surviving Level fives, and they can rapidly build cities with a snap of their fingers."

“Huh...that’s very interesting.” I said honestly. “Too bad that becoming an Admin sounds damn near impossible from what DJ told me.”

"It's not easy, but it makes sense given the power you get from it. Next question?"

“Um…” I thought for a moment, trying to think of another question to ask.

For a while I stood there just watching John work. The rusted blade becomes clean and regains it's chrome colors. Once the blade was done he began working on the shaft.

“How long have you been doing this?” I asked curiously, finding it fascinating that he turned what was a hunk of junk into something good.

"The better part of three million years. Before that I did minimal to fix them up, but after my time in the Library of Alexandria I got the proper tools to make the repairs proper."

“Sounds great.” I nodded. “Um...how many others are there like us?”

"Countless." John replied simply. "We've been popping up here since this reality became what it is now."

“Huh...that’s interesting.” I nodded. “Must have been a fan of the genre if they decided to do this huh?”

"You assume it's on purpose." John chuckled. "There are rumors, about this all being this way or that way with the Isekai but overall it's unknown why or how we end up here."

“I mean...it was ages ago when they started this.” I shrugged.

"Eh. So, anything else?" John asked as he reached into his sleeve pocket and pulled out what looked like a pen of sorts as well as what looked like a small bar of iron. I watched as he touched the pen to the iron and it melted into the pen, then used it to repair the cracks along the blade.

“Um...that’s about it I suppose.” I shrugged.

"Alright then." John said as I just kept watching him work.

We arrived at the second Dungeon and… I'd be lying if I wasn't fan-geeking out. It's an exact copy of Mugshots casino from Sly Cooper.

“Okay so...I’m super excited here.” I said with a giant smile.

"The dungeon has already been cleared." DJ said with a sigh. "But the optional boss is still around."

“Well...who’s the optional boss I wonder.” I said, looking at my Assistant wondering what the optional boss was given the entire place was cleared.

[Mugshots Tower: Level 1

Dungeon Boss Mugshot: Defeated.

Optional Boss Hank: Alive.

Optional Boss Hank Details:

Race: Canine - Great Dane 

Gender: Male

Location: Casino Armory]

"So, wanna go in?" Cassidy asked.

“Sure.” I nodded. “Also, do you think the bosses here know anything about the past?”

"I doubt it." John said.

"Not likely." Cassidy said, giving me a curious look. "Why?"

“I’m just curious, cause if they respawn after being beaten...well they must be as old as anyone else.” I shrugged.

"Not all are, most are all still really new. The oldest dungeons are all still on Homeworld." DJ stated.

"Besides, Bosses won't talk unless it's part of their banter while on the clock."

On the clock? Wait… bosses are people?! Being a dungeon boss Is a job?!

“Wait, this is their jobs?” I asked.

"Yup." DJ said. "Why use a random monster when an actual person can give you a way better fight?"

“I thought they were...apart of the dungeon or something?” I asked nervously. “Not just ‘hey, can we hurry this up, I’m off the clock in five’.” I frowned.

"It doesn't work like that." Cassidy said. "It's more like a… part time thing. When someone is at your doors and you're the boss for that dungeon you appear there, do your job and if you win you get the loot you'd normally drop and if they win you get half."

"Pretty much." DJ said.

“Huh...that’s still a little weird that this is more of a ‘job’ than anything.” I said honestly.

"There's a lot of weird jobs here." John said with a laugh. "Come on then, let's see if this dog has a bite to it." 

"I'mma bark fire in his face." DJ stated with a determined tone. 

“And it’ll be adorable.” I chuckled at how determined DJ was to bark fire in his face.

We headed into the casino, finding coins like from the game, enemies, also from the game and a few other types too, some security turrets that were a complete bitch and a half and finally headed down towards the armory of this guy. 

“Wonder what this guy’s gonna be like?” I wondered.

Turns out Hank is a nine foot, anthro, ripped dog man with teeth made of steel, literally, matching claws and a Gatling gun that shoots AP rounds…

I had my first experience with 'death' there. One moment I was full of holes in pain I could never describe in a million years… the next I woke up in base with the others all in our rooms about two hours later…

"Damn it, I didn't bark fire in his face…" DJ pouted as we all sat in the livingroom sulking.

"That was probably the third time I've had to respawn…" John said.

"I hate getting scrapped…" Cassidy huffed.

“Ow…” I groaned.

"Well that was a total failure…"

"If you wanna beat him we will need better or upgraded gear." John said. " I can upgrade the stuff we have, but it's up to you if we take the time to do that David."

“Well...do you want to beat this guy?” I asked curiously.

"I still wanna bark fire in his face." DJ said.

"He scrapped me, so payback would be nice." Cassidy said with a slight growl.

John just shrugged. "I do want adventures, but the final choice is all yours boss."

“Well we’re unanimous. John, start upgrading our stuff.” I said.

"Cool, Cassidy, you basically manage the money of the group?"

"Basically. Need stuff?" Cassidy asked, John nodded. "Alright, let's go. It will be cheaper in the long run buying the bare materials at least." She then held a hand out in front of me. "Gear, all of it."

“Sure.” I nodded while handing all my gear to her.

With John and Cassidy doing that I headed off outside for some air. I sat with DJ in my arms looking at Mugshots Casino. I sighed, petting the pupper. I remembered reading her description. I sighed, wondering how we could get stronger. Numbers help but clearly that isn't enough. That last boss we fought… stand together until we can stand alone… guess it's all about the grind to do so in the end. 

“There has to be a better way to get stronger than just the grind…” I muttered.

DJ yawned. "Well, you can do jobs that pay in skill points, the Arena's often give skill points and other cool stuff as prizes, and then there's the Adventures Guild, as a bonus for beating Dungeons and bosses the guild gives you extra."

“Yeah, those sound about right.” I nodded.

"Wanna register then?" 

“Given we’re gonna fight optional bosses then I suppose it would help.” I shrugged.

"Assistant, Affiliated Guilds, Add Guild." DJ said.

I did just that and when I registered with the guild I jumped as there was a flash in front of me and I was looking as a blind guy in a suit, glasses and big ass grey wings out his back. "David Alchem, yes?" They asked me.

“Yes, I’m David.” I nodded.

"You're Assistant Records tell us you and your associates took out Slave Master Elizabeth and Slave King Duusen, correct?"

“That is correct.” I nodded. “I doubt we could retroactively get the rewards here.”

"That is why I am here." He said, reaching into his suit and pulling out a small list. "For the Victory over Slave Master Elizabeth, you are rewarded two thousand rem, twenty five skill points, a motorized semi auto shotgun barrel+loading magazine, and one Electronium, Void, Space, and Terra elemental Crystal. For the Victory over Slave King Duusen, you are rewarded four thousand nine hundred rem, thirty five skill points, ten Magi Steel ingots, nine rounds of Spiral Nuke tank shells, and one Unicorn."

I blinked as all that stuff appeared in my assistant and a pure white unicorn like from my world's myths appeared next to me and licked my hair.

“Uh...excuse me...I didn’t expect all this…” I blinked.

"You are free to sell whatever you wish, and the guild thanks you for adventuring and clearing dungeons. Have a good day." They said with a nod, another flash and then they were gone… huh.

“Uh...huh…” I started. “That happened…”

Cassidy showed up a bit later, looked between myself and the unicorn, and sighed. "We're selling that."

“Why should we sell a Unicorn?” I asked. “Can’t it be either a great healer or something?”

"It takes time to train them in that. It's basically like having a second familiar, and are you really gonna clean its shit?" 

“Point…” I sighed out.

Cassidy lead the unicorn off and I sighed… I need a nap.

I was in my room, looking over the skill points. A total of sixty, divided between Cassidy, John and I gave twenty each. The first ability I got was Scan, as you'd expect, to display enemy HP. That was one skill point, nineteen still… 

“Alright...so what the actual hell do I put these points into…” I frowned.

As I looked around the branches I checked on my main skill… trunk? I guess. When I clicked it I was surprised to see a tab for DJ. According to these branches I can spend two skill points each to increase her HP, DEF, ATT, Speed, Endurance, and that's it. Huh.

I checked mine and was able to upgrade the same. But there was also an MP option for me, and it looked like there were spaces for more options. Likely to appear later.

“Alrighty then...time to upgrade as much as I can.” I said honestly, knowing stats would be good for right now if I don’t figure out something else.

I gave some boosts to all of DJ's stats and then to my own. I was left with one point leftover and after that I didn't have anything I could think of to put it into. I sighed and took a nap.

The next day I was watching John work again, my handgun in parts but he was enforcing the metal with some other metals.

“How’s the work going?” I asked curiously.

"Slow but that's to be expected." John said, his goggles on over his eyes as his tool an ingot of some metal and coated my handgun parts. "Even with upgraded weapons our armor will need the bigger option here, thankfully Cassidy has an idea to make it so we don't have to shell out for the materials."

“What’s the idea?” I asked curiously.

"She's pretty sure she can program a mod for herself that will give her an Energy Shield. If it works we can make versions of it for us powered by that Electronium crystal the Adventures Guild rewarded you." John said as he pointed a chin over to the table next to him. Testing on it was a bright blue, almost neon blue crystal, a pitch black crystal, a crystal that was as clear if not more clear than glass, and a glowing light brown color. The gems all on the table just randomly placed there.

“What else did I get if I may ask? I didn’t fully look at them or...even knew what half of them were.”

"In terms of all your stuff or in terms of the gems?"

“Both honestly.” I shrugged. “Which do you think would be simpler to explain first?”

"The items I suppose. Well, first off there's your new shotgun barrel/loader/ejector. Basically it's a rotating four barrel twelve gauge that loads from magazines rather than the typical tubes your current shotgun loads from. Well, used too, I already put on the mod. It's over there." I looked where John pointed and dropped my jaw… I have a Gatling shotgun! "To help with overheating I coated the thing in some of the magi Steel the guild also rewarded you and enchanted it with an ice trait so it won't melt on you. And to answer your next question Magi Steel is basically any metal that's heavily saturated in magic, there's Magi Steel, Iron, Copper, Aluminum, lead, adamantium, vibranium, Monofilament, ect. And lastly the Spiral Nuke Tank shells. Basically it's a giant AP tank shell with a mechanical drill mounted atop it that drills itself deeper where it hits and then explodes with the force of a, well, nuke. They come in bullets mostly."

“Good lord...also wouldn’t the kickback be murder on me with the Shotgun?” I asked nervously.

"Only if you set it from semi auto to full auto."

“I mean...yeah that makes sense.” I nodded.

"If you ever wanna use the full auto mode you'll need either some mods, enchantments, or upgrade your strength skill Branch some."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “So...the next thing to explain?”

"I dunno. You already know about rem and Skill Point right?"

“Then what about the gems?” I asked curiously.

“You have Nothingness from a gem, right?” John asked as I nodded. “Basically these gems you can absorb them to gain their elemental powers and properties. You can absorb one of each to gain all the elemental abilities and absorbing copies, like another Nothingness gem, will boost your reserves, increase the recharge time/rate, and typically unlock more powers, spells and attacks and abilities related to them. All in all they are worth getting, and everyone has their preferences they search for the most.”

“So which gems do we have here?” I asked curiously.

“Electronium, Void, Terra, and Space.”

“So I would get Electric powers, Void powers, whatever the hell that would be, Earth powers and...whatever the hell Space abilities would be since it kind of varies.”

“Yes, yes but they have a strong backlash in the early stages, power over rocks and plants, and teleportation.” John stated matter of factly.

“Well...teleportation would be a good idea to have.” I said honestly.

“Go for it, I only need the Electronium one so go nuts.”

“Alright.” I nodded while grabbing the Space stone and tried to absorb it. “Uh...question, do certain energies not mesh well together?”

“Only if you use both at the same time. Nothingness and Void for example, using both at once cancels each other out. Fire and water, depending on how you use them, and water and Electronium, but again, depending on how they are used can either work well or backlash.”

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Good to know about that.” I nodded while taking the Terra gem after. “So not entirely a good idea to have both Void and Nothingness at the same time right?”

“To have them, it’s fine, it’s using them that’s the bitch. Void especially, takes a long time to adapt to it. Still, up to you. Might save your ass, might kick it, up to you.”

“Well...what’ll happen to DJ with Void?” I asked nervously.

“Well, using void in the early stages hurts. It’s described like… burning, while being eaten alive, as every cell in your body is ripped in half. That’s about it.”

“Uh…” I looked at the Void gem. “I’d rather not have that done to my dog…”

  
So, I took the space and Terra gems, absorbing them and heading outside to try things out. For Space I had Teleport rank 1. I can teleport wherever I see, and the terra one lets me control just rocks and dirt for now.

Once outside I tried to figure out the Terra gem powers first… How does this work?

“Alright…” I muttered while looking at some pebbles on the ground as I raised my hand, trying to lift them up into the air.

Nothing… Hmm… I stomped, the pebbles lifted into the air, hung there for a moment then fell back… Oh… Oh! So this is Earth Bending from Avatar then.

“Great, now I’m gonna need to learn Kung Fu..I think it’s the Hung Gar Kuen?” I thought, trying to go back into what each of the bending styles the creators said were based on.

After a while I managed to learn how to lift solid chunks of ground out with my stomps and surprisingly punched them with both ease and more force than I expected. DJ…

“Weeeeeee!” She happily yelled as she flew around on her small patch of grass covered earth.

Yeah…DJ is a good girl.

Still, this is fucking cool… If I get Fire, water and air gems, does that make me the avatar? I laughed, practicing some more with just using my hands to lift the earth out.

“I should probably invest in a trainer… cause I have no idea what I’m doing half the time…” I sighed out.

It was then I decided to check something. I opened YouTube, and typed it in… many, many videos on how to earth bend or the Terra Gem abilities for beginners. Of course YouTube would have this.

“I’m shocked Youtube is even a thing here…” I chuckled.

As I previewed the videos, looking for one to click and watch I spotted an Ad video, The College of Combat? Normally I don't click these but…

Watching the video apparently it's as described. A college where you learn various forms of combat and skills. They have various locations all around this reality. Huh. That might be interesting.

"Now...it might be expensive as shit though…" I frowned.

I watched a few videos on what I can do with my current abilities. The teleport powers are neat. Useful as all hell. I headed back into base and got a quick snack, and spent some time looking through quests and such the Adventures Guild has… request custom quests?

"Custom quests?" I wondered.

I clicked it, and a few questions appeared.

Requested reward?

Hmm… Fire Gem.

Quest Type?

Hmm… Target Quest?

There was a brief blink as suddenly there was now an active quest in my vision. Find the wandering demon and destroy it. Reward, one fire gem.

So… that's definitely useful. My minimap and compass directed me a few miles east from here.

“Well...should be simple enough.” I said while checking to see how many times I can use my teleport ability.

I had seven more teleports, as for the Terra one, I still had over twenty. Huh, useful. With that DJ and I headed east. We walked the way there and even without the minimap and compass I could tell where we needed to go, just follow the smoke… so, this is a demon. Wonder how it will look? Humanoid, anime style, biblically grotesque, or something else? "Side quests, yay." DJ said happily as we walked over to the smoke's source. "So, what are we fighting?"

“A demon.” I said honestly. “And apparently it’s a fire demon just from the smoke.”

"Neat. Gonna abuse the custom quests as often as possible?"

“Might as well.” I shrugged.

"Neat." 

The demon I saw looked kinda like… corpse like, body wet and that liquid it was covered in when it touched anything else set it on fire. It's legs were like a dog's, arms long and thin as sticks with sword-like fingers, a mouth that stretched from the top of its face to the bottom of it's torso, and inside that was rows and rows of swollen flesh, teeth, and a tongue that lashed out like a whip. "Nope." DJ said instantly.

“Uh...huh…” I started. “That’s...indeed a thing…”

I did the only thing I could do. Took out my shotgun John had already finished and did a piss poor imitation of the Doom guy. The gun works amazing, and I didn't stop shooting the thing til I was out of slugs, despite it being dead after the third shot.

I put the gun away and pulled out my new fire gem. Absorbing that, and managed to get fire to form in my hands… worth it.

“Okay, this was totally worth it.” I chuckled.

With that, I figured I'd check on how many elemental gems there are… holy Fuck that's a lot… okay, next is water. This next quest was simple, sorta. Find a water fairy. So, to a lake or…?

“Where the hell do I find a water fairy?” I asked with a frown.

I checked my map and found there was a river a few miles near me. Another nice hike and… holy Fuck is that… 

"Bidoof." The small Beaver pokemon said dumbly as it looked up at me.

“Why the hell is there a Bidoof out this far?” I asked curiously.

"Some pokemon spawn in the hazard zones, others in the safe zones. It all depends." DJ said, taking a sniff at the pokemon. She then barked at it, causing the Beaver to run in response.

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “Good to know...now where the hell is that water fairy?”

I hiked back up along til I found the river. There was all kinds of neat things and fish I could see.

Olay so where… I saw a small flower that had a tiny little person with wings that kinda reminded me of the Tinkerbell movie fairies. She was tan with a green and blue dress, red hair and from what I could see, small violet eyes.

“Huh…” I started. “So...do I need to beat her in a fight or…?”

DJ jumped the small fairy, and pinned her. "Awh crap." The small fairy cursed. She then began sneezing. A lot.

“Does this count as a quest complete if you concede?” I asked the fairy curiously. “Cause if you concede I can get DJ off you and get you some medicine since you're apparently allergic.”

"I- I!" She sneezed. "Ugh, why did it have to be a dog…" She groaned. There was a flash and now she was just an inch below my height. "Ugh… fine. Here." She handed me the gem. It was a more clear blue than electronium.

“Thank you.” I said while going to my assistant and buying something that helps with a dog allergy, the medicine appeared right in front of me. “And here you go. Sorry about that, didn’t think you’d be allergic.”

"Thanks, and it happens." She huffed as she took a dose of the medicine. "So, you're clearly new if you asked for a custom quest for a water gem. Was supposed to show you a few attacks in a sorta fight so you'd have a good idea of what to do."

“But I have the good girl DJ here.” I said with a smile at my wonderful dog. “Plus it’s a lot better than...the last custom quest, seriously the fuck was that fire demon thing?”

"Fire demon huh? How'd it look?"

“Rows of teeth.” I started nervously. “Anything it touched was also set on fire but... _ rows _ of teeth…”

"That doesn't narrow it down at all. So, what's your name newbie?"

“David, and the demon looked corpse-like and...well it’s mouth was it’s torso, that’s why I said ‘rows of teeth’.”

"Still not narrowing it down. Names Abby. So, how far you explore?"

“Uh...not far I suppose.” I said honestly. “And how the hell is it not narrowing it down?”

"Pick up a demonology book and you'll see why." She chuckled. She smiled as she was looking at me for… is she… is she checking me out? "So, you gotta be someplace newbie?"

“Not...really?” I said nervously. “So far we’re trying to beat an optional boss in Mugshots Casino right now.”

"Oh, neat. So, since you don't have to be anyplace soon, you wanna have a quickie before I leave or not interested?" … what?

“A...quickie…” I blinked. “Uh...excuse me?”

"What? You're not one of those puritiens who only fuck their own kind are you?" She asked with a raised brow.

“No.” I shook my head. “Just...the complete out of nowhere response of ‘hey, wanna bang?’ kind of threw me off guard cause…well no one really asked that so casually and out of the blue.”

"Why? You're cute and it's not like it's hard to get…" Her expression changed from confused, to surprised/thoughtful, then she grew a sly smile. "You're that kind of newbie, Isekai, aren't you?"

“Is this where I start magicking up a harem out of nowhere?” I half joked, half was kind of serious about that.

She laughed. "Well, depends, if you win a person and their a lover class then yes, or if you ask nicely, maybe some chicks and guys, herms, genderless will say yes." She chuckled again. "Alright newbie, something that you need to know is that sex is super casual here. Once you turn eighteen you can basically ask some stranger on the road for it and odds are unless they're busy they will say yes. Living as long as we do, and you will live as long as the rest of us, sex is one of those things that you never get bored of unless you focus on it solely, and even then. So, sex is just, sex. You wanna throw a relationship and love, marriage, some kids in there then go ahead, no one's gonna stop you from impregnating every womb on the planet."

“Uh...huh…” I started slowly. “And...there’s no laws against...the weirder side of that part?”

"Depends. Hell doesn't have any, some cities allow it's weirder and darker parts, but overall so long as both are of age and consenting nobody really cares. Save for Puritiens and tight assed Isolationists. They're basically the same thing those two but Puritiens at least interact with the other races, Isolationists live on worlds populated just by their kind and only ever leave their little bubbles for trade and even then it's rare."

“Didn’t think that would have been a thing.” I said honestly. “So...just casual sex?”

"Yup, and if I end up pregnant I'll find ya." She said oh too casually as she was now against me so… close her everything pressed against me. "So, what do ya say newbie? Care for a quick, casual fucking?"

“It...wouldn’t hurt I suppose.” I said honestly. “Already died once before it...don’t want to die again when the offers damn near grinding up against me.”

* * *

That was… wow… I did things I'd only ever seen in porn. "Not bad newbie, you have some potential." Abby the Fairy said, her still bare, clothless body atop mine. We were still by the river and… I had a massive smile on my face. "Definitely worth putting you in my little black book contacts."

"That...was fantastic." I sighed out blissfully.

Abby gave a giggle, giving me a quick peck on the cheek before getting up and redressing herself. "I'll keep in touch newbie, you're fun, might be worth it to end up sticking around with ya someday." She said, touching her Assistant to mine.

[New Contact Added: Abby]

"Til next time." She said, now dressed as she gave me a wink and seemingly melted into water itself that entered the river and was gone.

I laid there for a while before getting dressed myself. My smile never left my face as I entered in the new request for a custom quest for a wind gem this time.

[New Quest Added:

Slay the minor sky dragon.

Reward - 1 air gem]

I looked up as a small, about the size of a car, green and yellow dragon was now flying above me. I smiled, taking out my shotgun and absorbing the water gem. Pure willpower letting me pull water from the river to float around me. I just got laid, this dragon is so dead.

“I’m going to have some fun.” I said while rushing towards the dragon.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Cassidy started as I was in the living room, DJ and I having dragged the dragon corpse inside after I killed it and got my air gem. "You discovered the custom quests option," I nodded. "Went and killed a demon for the fire gem," I nodded again. "Found a water fairy then fucked her and learned about our worlds extremely casual compared to your worlds views on sex, earning a water gem." I nodded again, smiling as I remembered that happy event not so long ago. "And while high off afterglow killed a sky dragon, getting you an air gem." 

“Don’t make it sound too fantastic, it was a minor sky dragon.” I said, wanting to be humble and not let the events of today go to my head.

"I'm just surprised you did that much solo." Cassidy said as she looked over the dragon corpse. "Hide and bones John can use for the armor, maybe even weapons, meat we can either sell or keep for food." She shrugged. "All in all, you did pretty good."

“All in all, it was a wonderful day.” I said honestly. “But uh...second opinion on what laws there are on this casual sex thing...cause Abby gave me more of the cliff notes on it.”

"Abby? So you got her name~" Cassidy said teasingly before laughing. "So, what finer details do you wanna know?"

“Uh...like, what’s allowed and what’s not allowed, and a bunch of other things that...involve my world.” I said nervously.

"Well, to be honest it does range from city to city, town to town and world to world. This planet basically, sex over age eighteen allowed, rape is a crime, that stuff and all, sex with minors is illegal. Though depending on things like the age gap it isn't that severe. But some cities don't have such laws, in hell anything goes so, watch yourself. The cities and worlds where that's legal is basically more a tourist place for those who have those fetishes. Some brothels can get licenses to allow them but in the end it's a mix between roleplay and fetish stuff."

“Alright, good to know.” I nodded. “Better to know that before I do something dumb.”

"Anything else before you begin a side quest of lewdness?" 

“Please tell me there’s a cure for any...unwanted illnesses because of it.”

"You mean STDS? Yes, biological illnesses from Isekai worlds are all pretty much cured. Magical ones can be cured but it's more than an injection, which reminds me we should get you checked at a hospital for those shots."

“And any other things in case that water fairy gave me something…” I sighed out. “I doubt it but...you never know.”

Cassidy just laughed. "So, now that you got those gems got an idea of how to use them in a fight?"

“If I can figure out how to make it rain in that room, I can electrocute our optional boss to death.” I said honestly, knowing there was an item that could do electric damage somewhere.

"Assuming it does kill them. Stun with some damage would at least be better. So, air, water, fire, Terra and Nothingness. With luck you'll be able to unlock overlap powers and combinations."

“Let’s not forget that holy fire...unless that was temporary.” I started.

"No, it's yours but you'll still need the Divine gem to have the base power of, well, Divine to learn more overlapped abilities. Guess that custom quests is at least paying off."

“Yeah, it certainly is.” I nodded in agreement.

"So, got anything else you wanna win?"

“Well...can I win a girlfriend, that’s the next question…” I said, my face turning a shade of red as I couldn’t believe I’d do a quest to get a girlfriend.

"You can win wives. There's no limit on that, hell if I agreed to it I could be your wife. Though no offense, I'm not into guys." Cassidy said with a shrug. "Just remember, the Lover class of prize people starts off… different from me or the other classes."

“Different how?” I asked curiously.

"Well… prize people start off in pods, it's basically like stasis. We don't feel time pass by, it's just, we wake up out of there and that's that, but the lover class has a different reaction. If you take them and open their pod… I don't know how to describe it really… you'll just have to experience it I guess."

“Only one way to find out I suppose.” I shrugged.

"So, gonna win yourself a waifu?" Cassidy asked teasingly. "Just remember, even if you win them that doesn't mean they… bond? I dunno it has something to do with how the opening of their pods work, like if you two are incomparable then the pod reseals."

“Well that’s good to know you can literally win rejection.” I said, finding what I heard a bit of a dick move.

"Well they are people, so it makes sense not all of them you get you can have love with, and when I say love I mean Love, not sex. Part of why sex is so casual is cause while sex is passing and only physical, love lasts the long lives we live."

“Yeah...that makes sense.” I nodded. “So probably shouldn’t then…”

"Course then there's the Match Makers Guild, the rejected lovers pod they take and try and find who they are compatible with."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded.

"Add that to the list."

The next day I got my light saber back, John ended up using a small bit of the void gem to give it a new feature. A dial on the bottom let's me swap out the basic energy blade for a void one and it honestly scares me. I tested it on a custom quest and I am two hundred percent certain that stone golems aren't supposed to scream in pain for mercy. That got me my own Electronium gem though.

Up next was something for Cassidy, a machine gun upgrade so she doesn't just have that cannon. This one was easy as it had me explore a mini dungeon, yeah that's a thing it seems, and find the upgrade for her there. It was in this ship that looked a lot like a chunk of the death star from Star Wars.

“Alright...so far while this is cool...I’m still scared about that golem…” I said nervously.

"Well, void isn't for the faint of heart. Void users are tough as nails and can take hits like they can dish them out." Cassidy said. Since this was for her, she tagged along. "You don't pick a fight with void users unless you can hit as hard as them and take more hits than they can."

“Sounds about right.” I nodded.

Exploring this place we came across several droids, exactly from star wars and they were dealt with easily. Bright side, I now have laser rifles. We eventually arrived at the robotics production factory and after easily dealing with several droids we got the upgrade for Cassidy. Her left arm opened up, the chip getting placed in then almost… melted into her as her arm closed back up. After a moment her left arm shifted into a three barreled machine gun. “Nice. Gonna give that dog a taste of his own medicine.” She said, smiling.

“Trust me, he’s not going to know what hit him after this.” I said with a smile.

We began heading off and headed back to base. Once there I hit the bed and drifted off to the sleeping realm.

As the past times, I woke up where I was last, in a most likely planet sized amusement park. I was walking through all the games and such, having played some and gotten mostly decorations for my room in the waking world. This place was always so cool, so full of life and fun. I was looking over a booth, it was one of those ball toss games that you knock the bottles over with a ball, but the bottles were at least twenty feet or so away and you had to hit them with a baseball bat and you win… a Starlight Keyblade?!

"Didn't think you could win a Keyblade." I said, honestly surprised about that.

I watched as the guy playing currently had three shots, hitting the ball and knocking the bottles off on his second swing. He gave a fist to the sky in Victory as the chrome and blue Keyblade appeared in a flash of light on a table before him. I headed over and took my turn, paying five rem for the three shots.

"Jeez...when was the last time I even held a bat?" I muttered to myself as I held the baseball bat carefully.

With a careful few practice swings I then tossed the ball up, swung the bat, hit it to my surprise, then missed the bottles entirely. Crap. My other two shots missed also. Damn it… well, at least the consolation prize is a neat toy wayfinder. I took it and headed off, wondering what else I could find here… probably anything and everything. As I walked I caught the scent of something grilling in barbeque sauce and followed it. I found a stall selling various meats off the grill and bought what was apparently barbeque demon frog and it wasn't bad at all.

Walking around I spotted something I didn't expect. A tent with two guys in what reminded me of Organization 13 cloaks, but the colors were grey and bright blue, an hourglass that actually moved was imprinted on their back and torso of their coats and each seemed to wield the gazing eye Keyblade.

"Uh...hi?" I said to the two cloaked figures. 

They didn't respond. I tried to enter and they didn't stop me, inside was another one of those cloaked guys, smaller, seated in a chair at a desk in the center of the tent. "Do you have business with the Time Walkers?" The seated guy asked me. His voice reminded me of someone but… damn it where have I heard his voice before?

"I just saw this tent here and wondered what it was about and...why do you sound familiar?"

"I get that a lot." They said, sitting up. "This is the Time Walkers booth, we do basic things here. Fortune telling, mostly, scout potential recruits, and various things. Is there something you need David Alchem?"

"I...don't really know." I said nervously. "But fortune telling sounds like a good thing to get."

I walked In and took a seat on a chair across their desk. They raised a hand as a Gazing Eye appeared in their hand and they pointed it at me, the eye on the Keyblade glowing bright blue before they turned the eye to the table, a book appearing under it. The book simply had my name and a sketch of my face on it. They took it and flipped through it. "Isekai, more and more of you lot appearing here every day. Heh, slow start but it sure does pick up. A lot of good fights, victories." They said aloud… that book has my whole life in it?

“Anything of particular note?” I asked curiously. “Like...any really serious victory or discovery?”

"I can't tell you any details, but your future is certainly impressive. Colonize a few thousand planets, grow quite the harem, you certainly make the most of your newfound lifespan."

“Sounds great.” I nodded with a smile. “Glad to know my life is going to be good.”

"Quite. There's hardships, rivals, enemies, but with your path that's to be expected." The Time Walker said, flipping pages. "If only Gazing Eye would choose you, skills like the ones you will obtain could be ever so useful."

“I’m pretty sure you already have people more qualified than me, even if you can see into my future.” I said honestly.

"Any questions?" They asked, still looking through the book that told about my life.

“Uh…” I started, trying to think of a question. “Who are you people? I kind of get the jist of your job based on your group's name but...just from what I’ve been told it sounds a lot more ‘cloak and dagger’ than what I would normally think.”

"We are the Time Walkers, founded unknown and our primary objective is the protection of eternal archives, the place where the lives of everything, place, world and person are kept written down." He said, closing the book and shaking it. "We also take those who are to fall into Madness before they do, and if they resist, well, then we are executioners. We are also one of the Guardians of The Mother, not that she needs it really."

“Who is ‘The Mother’? Cause while I’ve heard they're a person...I was also told they were multiple people...and it weirdly sounded like a Title from some of the times I heard of them.”

"They are one person but they are also many, countless people really. A whole family of heroes combined into a single all powerful entity, yet still they can roam free from their solitary form. That's the easiest way to explain it really."

“Huh...sounds like quite an adventure to lead to that.” I said honestly.

"It was. So, anything else?"

“Considering you’ve seen...a lot through time…” I started. “Considering everyone’s basically immortal and all this...what’s the point? I might as well get this existential crisis question out of the way before it drives me insane right?”

They laughed. "The point is to live. Live as who you want, doing what you want, however you like. The point is whatever you make it to be for yourself and just that, your life, your choice, your point for your own existence."

“Ah...well that all makes as much sense as this whole place existing to begin with.” I said honestly.

"Anything else at all before you wake up?"

“Um...will I see you people again?” I asked.

I could feel them smirking under that hood. "In time."

I woke up annoyed… I walked right into that pun...

“That’s what I need to wake up to...being annoyed at walking into a shitty pun.”

As I looked around my things I did win from the sleeping worlds I noticed something under my blanket. Moving it, I looked at the Starlight Keyblade in complete surprise. There was a paper taped to it I read.

[ _ An Investment in your exceptional future. _

_ -Time Walker Guild _ ]

“Huh...Cool.” I said while grabbing the keyblade and lifting it up.

It was way lighter than I expected, and the second I grabbed it, I felt this… rush, this something flow through me.

[Unique Weapon Class Unlocked.

Class: Keyblade

Name: Starlight

Level: Entery

New Skill Branches Grown.

Branches Attack, Defense, Magic, Special and Performance now unlocked.]

“Damn, a lot of things.” I said honestly while looking through my new things.

I had one skill point and… I had to.

[Skill High Jump Unlocked]

I ran to the bottom of my room's floor, looked up and smiled as I jumped, flying up and over the upper balcony/sleeping area and back into my bed. Before I jumped at max a single foot in the air. Hell yes.

“It’s a start, but a great start.” I said happily.

Over the next day I spent practicing with my new Keyblade and it's been basically my childhood dream come true. Our armors were finally finished and all that was needed now was Cassidy's Shield thing. "Okay so I reinforced your leather armor with the wind dragon Hide and bones along the more vital areas. This will make most of your arms, legs, and torso far more defendable. I used the leftover Magi Steel to create a thin but effective armor upgrade for Cassidy, I used the leftover bones and hide to make DJ some armor." We looked down at the tiny armored dog. Cute. "And I managed to repair a shield for myself in my spare time and I gave a light void coating so that should help a lot." John said. Our main materials in their leftovers on his work table in the workshop.

“Sweet.” I nodded. “Sounds like we’re ready to kick the optional bosses ass.”

"Once Cassidy finishes programming that upgrade we can. So, I guess for now we take it easy or train." John said with a shrug.

“Well it’s a good thing I’ve been training then.” I shrugged.

I figured Cassidy should be done with that upgrade by the end of the day so I headed out and wanted to do some custom missions. As I was about to enter in my requested reward, I jumped as a loud ring echoed in my head. The hell?

[New Text Message From Abby.

-Sup Newbie? I'm free and bored, care for a little fun?]

“Hmm…” I hummed, sending her a message back saying,

[What kind of fun are you talking about?]

She replied with.

[Depends, what are you up for?]

“What am I in the mood for…” I hummed.

[Got anything specific in mind?]

[I'm good with whatever, but I do wanna know how well you've learned in terms of using that new power of yours from the water gem. I was supposed to show off a few techniques in a fight after all.]

[Well I’ve learned I can at least use it to smack a dragon out of the sky but that’s about it]

[Boo. Well, can't have that now can we?

Request from Abby: Teleport to your location.

Yes?

No?]

“Alrighty then…” I muttered while clicking ‘yes’.

In a flash she appeared in front of me, wearing a short blue top that showed off her belly and lower back, and a skirt that was just above her knees. "Hey there, so, only smacking a dragon out of the sky?" She asked, arms on her hips looking at me playfully annoyed.

“Sure it was a minor sky dragon, but at the time I only knew I could apparently mentally control it instead of the Tai Chi thing Water Benders did in The Last Airbender.” I said honestly, holding my hands up in playful defense.

"Well that is an option but yeah when it comes down to it the crystals are a mix between mental will power and form and body movements. Now then, you have the basics of it at least, now for the fine tuning." She said, waving her hand in front of me as droplets formed from the air into her palm. She held the small orb of liquid before me as it shaped and grew into a heavily detailed sunflower.

“Wow.” I was honestly amazed at how detailed she made the sunflower with nothing but water.

"Now then, time to get started."

With a smile Abby grew her wings open, a few flaps and she was a fair distance from me. "Now, lesson one. Sources. You can use water from the air, bottles, or if you gain a Conduit gene you can store water within your own body like I can to have at all times." She started. "Since you don't have that, let's have you focus on pulling water from the air."

“Sounds like this is going to be a pain in the ass…”

"Not as long as there is a good amount of moisture in the air. Or, from plants nearby. Hold your arms out into the air, activate your water abilities, feel and sense it around you, the smallest droplets, and their molecules."

“Alright…” I nodded while raising my arms and taking a deep breath, trying to feel things out with my water powers.

I felt the power from the water gem flow through me. The first major source of water I felt was Abby, like a large pond or something like that. I could feel the grass see the water within, held inside like sponges. From there I felt the water inside the earth, the fertile soil holding in water as well. Finally, the air itself. The microscopic hydrogen and oxygen gasses in the air already together as water, but not grouped enough to form a solid body. Panting, I willed those H2O molecules together til the single droplet floated above my hand. 

"Not bad. A good start." Abby said.

“That’s...quite a bit to take in.” I panted from the exertion.

"You'll get used to it." Abby said, flapping up next to me and giving me a pat on the back. "Typically even those born with the elemental power can still take a while to pull a drop from the air."

“So...do you know anyone else that can teach me about Earth, Fire and Air?” I asked curiously. “Also...yes, I am going that route, don’t judge me.”

"Judge what?" She asked. "But hmm… yeah, I know a few people. Need any other elemental teachers? Or teachers in general?"

“Yes.” I said.

She laughed. "Alrighty, I can be your water teacher but I need something from you first."

“And what would that be?” I asked curiously.

"Well, as you can guess from how we met I work for the adventurers guild, being a sorta mini boss and such. Basically I need you to tag along with me so I can fill out my leave of absence forms and they can enroll me into the educators guild."

“Sounds about right.” I said honestly.

She nodded as she again tapped her Assistant to mine. Abby joined the list of allies in my party and holy hell… she's strong. 6,000 HP. "Now that we're in the same party, just gonna warp us to the Adventurers guild hub.” She said, doing something on her Assistant.

“How can Assistants teleport people?” I asked curiously. “Or is that something completely different?”

"Basically it's like this, anyplace you have been, town, important building, ect, you can warp to from the Assistant. Most people just got key places they go to often, house, work, malls, ect." She said with a shrug. She clicked something on her holo screen and I felt like… when you are falling asleep and feel like you are falling then jump awake, that's how it felt. Shaking that feeling off I looked up and… holy shit this building is huge!! I can't see the roof! I can't see the edges! "Come on." Abby said as she was already walking into one of the many, many, many… many doors around us.

“I hate...that I got an Ed Edd and Eddy reference in my head with all these doors…” I groaned as I rubbed my temples.

We headed inside and I followed Abby into an office where I met… I'm uh… I'm not sure what but their name was Scoth and they looked like a living mannequin, no scratch that, I was looking at a human sized slenderman. "Abby." They said despite there being no mouth on their face.

"Hey Scoth, I need a leave of absence. I'm tutoring this guy here for water based abilities." She said, giving a thumb point to me.

"Any particular reason? And please don't say he has a huge cock like the last time…"

"I mean, it's not big but also not small." She said to my cherry red blush. "But no, he has some good potential. First try pulling water from the air he got a proper drop formed."

"That is impressive, especially for a first time. Fine," Scoth said, pulling papers from his desk as Abby took a pen and began filling them out. "I'll send the papers to the educators guild and once it clears they'll allow you the materials you need as his training progresses."

"I also need you to call in a few favors from them. He also has fire, earth, air, electronium and nothingness. Some combat teachers would be good too."

"Very well, who will I be sending these requests to?"

"Kenny, Dekin, and Toriel, that at least covers his four elements roleplay."

Toriel? Is it… is it the same one I'm thinking of?

"Fine. I'll see about the others and if anything comes up I'll text you."

"Thanks Scoth." Abby said as she finished the paperwork. With that done I followed her outside and she teleported us back to base. "Guess I'll be hanging with you and your party for a while."

“Uh...when you said Toriel, do you mean from Undertale?” I asked curiously.

"Huh? Hmm… Humanoid goat lady? Long blue dress? White fur?"

“Nicknamed ‘Goat Mom’?” I pointed out.

"Heh, only at the Orphanage Guild, that's where she largely works." Abby said. "Let me guess, back on your world she was… a cartoon character?"

“Video Game.” I said honestly.

"Ah. Heh, well either way you two will get along fine. She's like you."

“Like me?” I asked curiously. “What do you mean?”

She gave me a playful whack to my side. "Isekai dummy. Was about three hundred years ago when she popped up here."

She's Isekai too? Guess that isn't impossible, but definitely surprising. I knew characters from fiction in my world were real here as well as places but I didn't even think those fictional places and people could also exist solo more like how I know them if not different to a degree.

“Huh...didn’t expect people from other places to have their own separate worlds.”

"Heh, well in any case, what to train on next…. So, this mobile base of yours has a pool?" Abby asked.

“I...think it does.” I said. “I haven’t looked at all the new rooms though.”

We went inside and there sadly was not a pool. "You'd be better just having a multipurpose training room." John stated. "Can be whatever you need but it has requirements."

"Elemental gems." Abby sighed.

“So...I need to find more of them?” I asked curiously.

"Yup." John sighed. "At least one of each."

“Christ…” I sighed out. “Well...best get back to grinding then…”

"All thirty." Abby sighed.

“Thirty?” I asked.

"Thirty natural elemental gems and then there's artificial man made ones and combination gems." John said. 

“Jesus christ…” I groaned.

"Thankfully we only need the natural ones." Abby said. "How many you got?"

"Partel void gem and an Electronium gem but we need it for something else." John said.

"So from zero to all thirty… maybe get two of each so Avatar here can get a little bit OP for your adventures." Abby said, giving me a playful elbow.

“I said don’t judge me.” I huffed.

"Not judging, teasing." She laughed.

"Maybe I should get some too, Cassidy also. Would help us out in the long run." John said thoughtfully.

"So I get three students. Cool, bigger paycheck." Abby chuckled.

“Would DJ also count for this? Or because she’s my familiar she doesn’t have to?” I asked curiously.

"Yes and no, she can learn if she wants but because she can do what you can do it's not really necessary." 

"Speaking of, where is the little dog?" John asked.

“DJ might not be here since Abby here is allergic to dogs...which seems a little weird how there’s allergies in this world.”

"Allergies and illnesses are two very different things." Abby stated.

"Sadly, funny how that works huh?" John said.

“Sounds simple enough.” I shrugged. “But where is DJ? I don’t think I left her somewhere…”

_ "I'm in my room David." _ I heard DJ say in my head.  _ "Also yes, we have mental telepathy. Just between you and I." _

“I...guess I have a telepathic link with DJ, and she’s in her room.” I said honestly.

"Neat, so someone go get Cassidy, or we wait for whatever she is doing to be done." Abby said.

"I say we wait." John said. "Gives me time to clean more gear and we can plan all this out."

"Good idea." Abby said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the hall.

“Whoa, what’s the rush?” I asked curiously.

"If there's time to kill I need a place to sleep. Where's your room?"

“Oh, this way.” I said while leading her to my room. “Didn’t think I would need all this prep work beforehand…”

Once we were in my room Abby got a look around the place. "Nice room." She said with a nod as she looked around. 

“It’s nothing too fancy but it’s my room.” I shrugged.

"Well, time to kill time." She said, taking my hand and pulling me up the stairs. "I wanna see how good you can rutt me over that railing." She said with a devious smile.

Somehow I was expecting this.

* * *

  
  


I woke up with a yawn. Abby basically showed me… tricks, yeah tricks and left it at that. Still, it was late now and I'm hungry. As I got up out of bed and looked over at it I was surprised to not see the water fairy under the sheets. Must have already gotten up to eat or something.

I dressed myself then headed over to the kitchen and asked for fried chicken as the magic and machines began working. I sat at the table where John and Cassidy were already eating something else, the two just looking at me.

“Please tell me our rooms are soundproofed…” I said worriedly.

"They are, that's not what we're looking at you for." John said.

Cassidy was looking like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

“And what are you going to laugh about?” I frowned.

"You never checked Abby's stats page when she joined the group did you?" She said, chuckling.

“I mean, considering she has about...five times as much HP as any of us, also accounting for if Fairies are naturally more frail than your average human, I’d say she’s pretty strong considering she was a Quest Boss.” I explained simply. “Only reason why I beat her the first time was because she was allergic to DJ and she couldn’t really do much after.”

At that, Cassidy began laughing. John facepalm. "Look where her HP bar and such are, and click it." John sighed.

Confused, I did just that.

[Abby

Gender: Female

Race: Hybrid - Water Fairy/Symbiote

HP-]

I stared at where it said Water Fairy/Symbiote...

“Uh...excuse me?” I asked. “Water Fairy...Symbiote?” I asked. “So Abby...isn’t Abby technically?”

"She is, her race is labeled as hybrid. One parent was a water fairy, the other was a Symbiote. So she's half of both. Duh?" John said. He then sighed and gave me their spoon. " Meaning she can do…"

I looked at my reflection in the spoon. Those weren't my eyes normal color… and that was not my hair color...

“Uh...excuse me, but what the hell.” I frowned.

"I doubt it was intentional, given how long you two were at it in there." Cassidy said as she got back up from her laughing. "Symbiote hybrids when they get real tired sometimes unconsciously enter a host or something they can reside within."

"So in other words, after riding your bone she's resting up by riding your bones." John said, making Cassidy laugh again.

“Jesus christ…” I sighed out. “And...none of you told me this sooner why?”

"Does it matter? So she's half Symbiote. I'm a synthetic and John here is a billions years old Isekai who did nothing but read books and sight see. Besides, while she's in there you get some good bonuses." Cassidy said, calming back down from her laughter.

“So uh...when will she…’wake up’ as it were?” I asked curiously.

"Whenever she's rested." John said with a shrug. "Surprised she hasn't woken up from all the noise."

"Can I?" Cassidy asked, shifting her arm into her machine gun form.

“I don’t want to get shot again thank you very much.” I frowned.

"Not Into you, just next to your ear."

"Just play a video from YouTube on your Assistant loudly to wake her." John said.

“Ah, right.” I nodded while bringing up my Assistant and wondered which video I should play to spook Abby out of me.

Here we go. I played the audio file of a dog horn going off at max volume. I jumped along with Abby as suddenly water flowed out of my skin and next to me. Abby now stood fully formed, and dressed thankfully. "For fucks sake is that any way to wake a girl up?!" She yelled at me.

“I mean, how else were you going to get out of me?” I asked honestly and nervously.

"Oh please." She huffed. "I let you inside me, can't return the favor?" I blushed a bit as Cassidy gave a snort. "Besides, your body is comfy. Way more than the old tree I sleep in."

"You don't own a house?" John asked.

"Nah, water fairy/Symbiote, having my own place felt odd, so I would work and such when awake and sleep inside grass or flowers or a tree at night. If I got an overnight stay I'd sleep inside my rutt buddy. They never cared." Abby said with a shrug.

“Could have at least mentioned the fact you're a symbiote…” I frowned.

"Half." She corrected. "And so? Not many people go blabbing about their one parent being a water dragon and the other being a… snowman. People don't often bring up their genetics."

"I'm pretty sure there would have at least been something to tell...plus I'm pretty sure a dragon having a kid with anything isn't all that special or rare if fantasy has taught me anything."

"Human with living lightning then?" John offered.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"What? You that surprised?" Cassidy asked.

"Um...kind of?" I said honestly. "I mean...how does that work?"

"With all you've seen you're questioning this?" Abby asked, shaking her head. "Look, it's not that big a deal David, in fact it's basically a boon for you considering that when you are hosting me, you have access to half of my abilities and your stats are boosted by half of my total stats. A lot of people do this. If you really don't wanna though, then plant a tree or get a fish tank or something so I can sleep in those."

“I never said I didn’t want it.” I frowned. “All I said is ‘why didn’t you warn me?’, cause I didn’t know you were literally missing until these two told me you were literally inside me.”

"And you didn't check my stats page when I joined...why?"

“And I was supposed to know I could do that before or after John told me I could do that?” I countered.

Abby just face palmed. "Isikai…" She groaned. "Never know anything."

* * *

The next morning we began working on gathering the gems needed to craft the base and for us all to use. Thankfully the custom quests had more advanced options so we could get John and Cassidy their own gems for the elements I have. 

We were driving over to the mini dungeon where our prizes were waiting.

“Well this should be fun hopefully.” I said honestly.

"Not likely." John said, looking the quest over. "We're basically being sent to kill a bandit camp. Most of them are the shadow Creature people but the main bosses are all people, and the head of this little Dungeon is a member of the Subhumans guild."

"Subhumans?" I inquired. "The hell are they?" I asked nervously.

"It's a bit of a story." Abby said as she sat herself up on the couch. "Long before the Mother, reality had, and still does, follow a set of rules regarding it's balancing between good and evil forces. Basically evil would rule, good would come to fight and beat it, good would rule and evil would rise to fight and likely beat it or it would be a draw. This system was not very… stable. So, after the mother was created and she reshaped reality, she made sure to keep the balance of good and evil forces in a neutral area. The dungeons, hazards zones and all the monsters they hold is one of these safety nets for the forces of good and evil, but since we can only really die from three things in all of creation, more was needed. The original subhumans were a race built to basically be the bad guys, the dark forces that can keep the forces even, but as creation kept getting bigger they needed more numbers, and so they began recruiting. Now it's the Subhumans Guild that are allowed to be evil so long as they follow the rules."

“Huh...that’s quite a thing.” I said honestly.

"It's quite the interesting guild, but it's better than letting some other dimension destroying monster get born into reality."

“You… make it sound like it’s happened before…” I said worriedly.

"Well, if you include deletes, glitches… pissed off admins… ect… too many times." Cassidy said. "At least the Mother hasn't had anything like this happen under her watch, so all that's well ancient history."

Needless to say I processed that quite… well.

We arrived at the camp of these bandits? Raiders? Pirates? Bad guys, majority are those Shadow people but well armed, armored and looking smart. "There's three people sent here from the Adventures Guild, they're each guarding the way to the Subhuman member's tent. We kill that guy and we get the prizes." Abby said as we watched them all from a distance away. There was a lot.

“But it looks like it’s going to be a hassle and a half to get to them.”

"Well we are getting three of each elemental Gem, so yeah they would make a quest to get ninety gems pretty hard." John huffed.

“I...believe that’s because we each get the reward?” I asked, not remembering the ‘three of each’ bit.

“Well, you need the rest of the thirty natural elements and these two,” Abby said, motioning to Cassidy and John. “Could use them as well.”

“She isn’t wrong. Odds are I can change the energy my cannon fires based on the gems I absorb.” Cassidy said.

“And I can probably imbue our gear with their powers too to act as a booster, or give resistances if nothing else.” John said with a shrug.

“And I can bark so many cool energies at the bad guys.” DJ added.

“Good enough.” I said while reading my shotgun. “Let’s get started then.”

“How do we go about this then?” DJ asked.

Cassidy pulled out a few grenades. “Doubt I have enough.”

“I might have an idea, but it’s gonna drain me. May I rest inside your body if I do it?” Abby asked me.

“What’s the plan?” I asked curiously.

“If I expel all my stored up water and pull what I can from the air and ground, I should be able to at least take out the shadow creature people, most of them anyway.”

“You can do that?” John asked.

“I can fairly easily deal with level two dungeons solo so, yeah their numbers are the only real issue.”

“Are you sure?” I asked nervously.

“I’ll just be tired out. If I can rest inside a host body I’ll recover much faster, and in exchange you will get some good bonuses for it.” She said, placing a hand on my arm. “I’ll be fine after a good rest.”

“Well…” I put a hand on hers as well. “Let’s hope for the best.” I said gently. “Have at it Abby.”

With a nod she stood up, looking right at the camp. She let go of a large breath, and raised her hands up. Water flowed from them like torrents, the sky above starting to darken as soon water was pulled from the grass, it’s green form turning dull and wilted, the air also growing dry as it’s water was pulled as well. Soon the sky above that camp was covered in a thick layer of water. Abby looked ready to collapse already as she raised it higher and higher, then, dropped it.

It was like watching disaster footage of tsunamis, the tents and buildings there all were just… gone. The ground was even broken and a mix of craters and uplifted earth. Abby fell to her knees as I knelt down. She was panting heavily. “That wasn’t fun…” She wheezed.

“Okay so uh…” I started while gently grabbing Abby. “Remind me not to piss you off…”

She chuckled. “Damn right… Good luck.” She said, closing her eyes as her body melted into water. It then flowed into my skin, through my clothes that weren’t even wet as I felt a quick rush.

I looked in the reflective metal of my lightsaber. Yup, red hair, violet eyes.

“Alright...so what bonus’s do I get from this?” I wondered while checking my stats real quick.

Wow… So her hp plus my own, MP but that’s only at my amount at the moment. Must have drained all of hers, a lot of defense, attack, wow. Basically what she can do I can do now. Well hell yes. “Shall we?” Cassidy said, both arms shifted to their weapon forms.

“We shall.” I nodded while reading my shotgun. “Let’s go beat us some bad guys.”

Cassidy, John, DJ and I charged in, running through mud and taking shots at the weakened stragglers. Finally though someone broke out from under the mud. He looked human, skinny and dirty, wearing an armored miners pair of overalls and his hands were covered in a pair of large claws that seemed like automatic mini shovels. “That was impressive. I’d recognise that firepower anywhere. Abby sleeping soundly?” They asked, looking at me.

“Maybe, what’s it to you?” I asked while preparing to fight the new person.

“Names Dekin. Abby and I are co-workers at the adventurers guild as quest bosses. I specialize in the earth element. I can tell you have it’s fledgling stones within you.”

“I think Abby mentioned your name when she talked about people to train me with these elemental powers.” I said honestly.

“Did she? Well then, consider this your introductory lesson.” Dekin said, punching his claws into the earth as pillars of rock shot up around us all. Soon there was a rapidly moving ground under us. “Tectonic Shift.”

“Rock Wave!” I panicked as I raised my fist and slammed it into the ground as a wave of jagged rock rushed towards some pillars in front of us, managing to break it. “Move!” I said while rushing towards the opened up pillar so whatever the hell was below us didn’t get us.

We jumped onto a still rising pillar, DJ hopping onto her own flying chunk of rock and barking Fire, Nothingness and other elements at Dekin. With a raised hand he formed a flying barrier blocking DJ’s attacks. Cassidy was unleashing lead and energy blasts at him he dodged by jumping out of his… hole… holy fuck, he’s a naga. He raised his tail half up, blocking Cassidy’s attacks as the energy and lead bounced off his scales.

“Shit, Naga’s are one of the toughest races around.” John said. “His only weak area will be his upper half.”

“How tough?” I asked, John seeing I was moving a hand to the ‘mini gun’ mode switch just in case.

"Tough enough to be bullet proof along their scaled half." He said.

“So… what about elementally charged minigun shotgun proof?” I asked curiously.

"Depends, what kind of shells you're using?" I quickly pulled out the magazine, the shells were all… glowing a pulsating sky blue. "Oh, magic slugs. That could work."

“Alright, so I’m going to need some time to prepare myself for all the recoil on this thing if I full auto it.” I said honestly.

"Raise up a rock mount to shoot from." John said as I did just that and began taking aim, and fired. The recoil cracked and vibrated the stone badly, and in the five seconds it took to drain a thirty round mag. Scales of Dekin's were blasted off and some bleeding holes were along his body. 

He screamed in pain and Cassidy took the opportunity to full his unscaled torso with holes. DJ ran up to him, and barked fire in his face. Must be practicing for that dog guy then.

Dekin laughed. "Not bad kid. Good luck against Case and Toro." With that, Dekin faded like other bosses I fought.

“Alright...so Case and Toro, does anyone know who those two are?” I asked curiously.

"Nope." Cassidy shrugged.

"I think Toro… it's either the mecha pilot or the dragon rider? Those are the only two I know with that name." John said thoughtfully.

“Can I look them up on my Assistant or is that cheating?” I asked. “Cause right now Abby is still asleep and she’s the only one that would know.”

"It's an infinite reality, way more than two people have the same name…" Cassidy said.

“Sounds about right.”

"Come on then." Cassidy said.

With a nod we all headed off, dealing with more stragglers before finally finding another boss. She was… heh, wow. She was a fox girl, three tails, beautiful red and brown fur, and quite the… figure. "Have to admit, that impact nearly did a number on my fur."

“Alright so...that’s three for three…” I muttered, seeing this was the third woman who was drop dead gorgeous...which isn’t a lot since I’ve barely been in this world. “So how are you doing today?”

"Dry, thankfully. Names Case, now then." Case said, a flick of a wrist as she now held onto a black and red sword. Black as in the sword is some black metal and red as in it was on fire. "Let's get started." She said, slashing the air before us, sending a blast wave of fire at us. I raised up enough rocks to block it for us all before taking out my Lightsaber and Starlight, Cassidy taking pop shots around the barrier as John seemed to shoot a black energy from his halberd that Case was avoiding. DJ ran around the fox, barking off Nothingness and water at the fox lady before dodging a kick from her by digging into the ground. Heh, that's actually kinda funny.

“Alright, so this is gonna be interesting.” I said while rushing after the Fox, swinging my Lightsaber at her since I don’t know if her fire can melt a Keyblade.

Our weapons clashed, but she had more skill with a sword than I did, getting a hit across my leg. Thankfully my armor held, and the attack just hurt from the impact rather than a flaming gash. I jumped, my new high jump effortlessly let me dodged her swing as I threw my Keyblade at her. The blade then began spinning after I threw it, hitting her, bouncing from the ground, hitting her again on the return and came back to my grip… wait what?

[Keyblade Attack skill Unlocked: Strike Raid]

Oh. Hell. Yes!

“Okay, now that’s cool.” I chuckled while throwing my Keyblade in a Strike Raid again towards her, running behind the spinning blade ready to smack her if she blocked it.

While Case was busy blocking attacks from Cassidy and dodging DJ's, the strike raid was ready to hit her again when… her three tails moved not like fur, but like appendages that caught my Keyblade at it's tip. I saw her give a smirk at me as she cloaked it in fire then threw it back at me. Yipe!

I ducked, dodging my flaming Keyblade and disbanding it and summoning it again. Thankfully it wasn't on fire anymore. Not even warm. Stupid sexy fox lady!

Grunting I was about to throw another strike raid at her before realizing something. 

Scan.

[Enemy Detected. Case: Hp: 307/560]

She still has a fair amount. I need heavy hitting attacks to end this fast… what can I do with Abby's abilities while I have them?

[Symbiote Abby. Status: Unconscious.

HP Status: Full. Merged with host HP.

MP Status: Drained, Host MP 17/25.

Current available attacks usable by host:

  * Water Raid
  * Liquification
  * Aquatic Healing
  * Acid Rain
  * Mud Petrification]



“Um...alright…” I started as I threw a Water Raid out there, wondering if it was the same thing but with the water element or if it did something else.

It was basically a strike raid cloaked in water made sense really.

Definitely Case here was an experienced boss. She took hits but dodged and deflected just as much. I used Liquefaction which made me living water and it made me ignore damage… it's weird but also really cool. Aquatic Healing fixed up a bad wound John got. Acid Rain did get her on the defensive in dodging the painful droplets. Mud Petrification though…

Basically by manipulating both Earth and Water together I coated the fox in it then rapidly removed all the water from the mud, keeping her still long enough for Cassidy to offload into the fox lady.

Finally though her HP hit zero. "Impressive." Case said as she too faded.

I panted heavily from all the abilities I used one after another. “Good lord was that a pain…”

"I am really not looking forward to which or who this Toro is." John huffed, drinking a healing potion as did the rest of us.

We took a quick rest, and as we did I sighed, hoping Abby was resting okay. I also drank a Mana potion and we headed back into the camp. Further in we came across who must have been Toro. They looked rather young, like a kid young. "So Dekin and Case are out. Damn, guess you guys are determined." The kid said.

"And you must be Toro." John said.

"Yup." Toro said with a nod. He wasn't even wearing armor, just a grey hoodie and pants.

“Alright...so what’s your special gimmick?” I said honestly. “Cause you look...too casual and not supposed to be here given you look like a kid.”

"Heh, well that's basically what I go for." The kid said, giving us a smile. "Now then, let's start." The kids said, suddenly in front of me and kicked my leg… fuck! Okay that kid has some power. He was then behind John, pantsing the guy then knocking him to the side. Another blink and he was above Cassidy, landing on her head and landing a good punch on her right eye before appearing in front of DJ. He put a cup over her head.

The little pup yelped. "Get it off!" She yelled, walking backwards in a failing attempt to remove the paper cup off her face… damn it that's cute.

"Little brat!" Cassidy yelled, covering her punched eye. "High physical strength with a space Gems teleportation…"

"Not cool!" John yelled as he pulled himself and his pants up.

“Alright, so we’re fighting a child who fights like a child…” I took a deep breath. “Yeah this isn’t going to get real annoying real fast.” I said while rushing after the kid quickly.

Before I could grab him he vanished again and- Yeouch!!! I turned quickly, seeing the kid vanish again as a half full box of thumbtacks hit the floor… the rest were in my underwear…

While I began plotting the murder of a child removing the tacks, Cassidy and John tried dealing with the kid while DJ.

"Curse you paper cup!"

DJ was busy.

John swung his Halibird, Toro warped away and dropped onto John like he did Cassidy. 

"Get the fuck off you little shit!" John yelled trying to hit Toro with his Halibird off his shoulders.

“I’ve got an idea.” I said while grabbing DJ and getting the paper cup off her. “Gonna have to trust me DJ.” I said while lifting her up. “Dog Missile!” I shouted as I chucked DJ at Toro, ready to teleport wherever Toro was and give him a face full of lead.

Rather than teleport, he caught DJ, they then looked over at me. "You…" He held DJ in one arm, snapping his now free hand and… wait why am I so...shit! 

I found myself high in the air, falling to ground that was quite a ways down. Toro was now in front of me as we both fell, and kicked my head. "Don't." I got a wedgie. "Throw." A jab to the throat. "Dogs!" We were back on the ground and… ouch… right in the family jewels… I fell to my knees, and he was holding DJ in my face. "Now apologize to the good doggo."

DJ, for her part, looked a mix between confused and cringing from my pain.

I was currently in pain, but then I turned into my liquid form, thankfully getting rid of the pain, and teleported right onto his head, starting to drown the little bastard.

Toro gave one hard pound to his chest, and spat me out their mouth and nose. As I reformed and they were about to kick my head again…

Bang.

Toro fell over, a large hole in his head. His body faded as Cassidy shot where he was a few times. "My kids are never gonna be brats like that." She Huffed.

I turned back to normal and brought out what I learned beforehand was DJ’s favorite treat. “Sorry about throwing you DJ, either wanted you to bark something at him to distract him or give me enough of an opening to hit him if he teleported again.”

"You could have told me!" She yipped at me, taking the treat. "It wasn't fun."

“Well it was either that or have you kept struggling with the paper cup.” I said honestly. “Cause if I took it off, he would have put it on again, plus I did say ‘you gotta trust me’.”

"Meh." The pupper huffed as Cassidy handed me another potion. "So that just leaves the Main boss and Subhuman Guild Member… yay…" 

“Uh...you mean those weren’t the subhuman guild members?” I asked. “I thought it was only those three and the main boss that were from the Subhuman guild?”

"No, three bosses, and the main boss which is the Subhuman Guild Member."

“You mean those weren’t the three bosses?” I asked bluntly.

"They were bosses but not the one we need to beat." John huffed.

“Thank you, cause the way you worded things it sounded like those weren’t the bosses we had to fight before the main boss.” I said honestly.

"Well, we best get ready for this then…" DJ said, sniffing the air. With a nose she pointed at the edge of the camp. There I saw… well holy shit. She was an anthropomorphic wolf, dark blue coat and hair, six well… sized knockers on her chest and a large pair of wings on her back.

“Huh…” I started. “She’s certainly big and...how does she have wings? Is she a hybrid or something or what?”

"Yeah." John said, blinking. "She looks familiar…"

She flapped her wings, rapidly and swiftly landing in front of us. "I am Beldona. You three have slain the camp, and the appointed bosses before me. Well done."

“It’s nice to meet you Beldona.” I nodded. “Were you born with wings or did you get them from something else? I’m still new to...all of this.”

"I was born with them. My father was a dire wolf, my mother was half griffon, half dire wolf. I'm mostly wolf, but I still inherited the wings."

"You seem… Familiar…" John said, still looking her over. "Beldona…"

"It's not important." She said, spreading her wings open. "Are you ready to fight?"

I drank down the potion Cassidy gave me and felt a whole lot better. “Let’s get this over with.” I said while preparing for the fight.

"Very well." She flapped, the force and wind nearly knocking us all over as she was now high above us. She raised a hand up, snapping her fingers as vaporous lights appeared around her. Emerging from those lights was a whole lot of swords. “Sharp Rain." She flicked her hand down, and the swords began falling.

"Oh shit!" John yelped as Cassidy for him, myself, and DJ next to her. She raised her cannon arm up, and a light blue bubble appeared around us. The blades all hit, each sinking deep into the ground. The ones that hit Cassidy's shield thankfully bounced off and didn't get us.

"Thank the Mother that worked." Cassidy said, letting go of held breath as she dropped the shield.

“Okay...so the fuck was that?” I asked worriedly.

"Sharp rain." DJ said. "An attack that pulls blade weapons from your inventory and drops them over your opponent. The more swords in your inventory the larger area of damage."

I looked around… Seeing swords impaled in the ground littered well outside the camp.

"That's why I remember her. The Subhuman Beldona, The Walking Armory." John said, looking up at her. 

"I never run out of weapons." She confirmed, holding a hand out as she pulled a sniper rifle out from that light portal thing she summons.

“Um...alright, so that’s going to be a massive problem.” I said nervously.

"Run!" DJ yelled as we moved, dodging her first shot off as more began. We split up, she can only aim at one of us at a time.

I tried shooting up Lightning at her but she was too damn high. Shit I wish Abby was awake right now.

"Arf!"

I looked up, DJ was rising a chunk of earth up at Beldona, barking attacks at her, making her fly and taking attention from us. Good dog. Wait… her primary advantage above is flight, but when dealing with flying and ground based opponents she has to prioritize the flier. Okay, wind or earth, which will let me join DJ up there to help.

“Let’s try earth since I don’t know much about air…” I muttered while focusing and trying to make a flying platform like DJ to get up to her. “You two try and hit her from down here, me and DJ will keep her occupied.”

I couldn't get the earth to fly under me, but I was able to raise it up high enough to get me close to her. Close enough to pull out my handgun and started shooting. When Cassidy and John joined in from ground level, Shooting up at her we managed to keep Beldona on the defensive. Though she was able to summon out and throw swords at us all at any chance, some she made and others she got when we were reloading.

“Alright, so how far are we in this?” I wondered while using my Scan ability to check her health, hoping we weren’t barely a third of the way there.

[Beldona - HP: 1,276/1,500]

Awh crap.

“Okay...so we’re barely a fifth of the way done…” I frowned. “This is gonna take a while…”

* * *

[Beldona - HP: 52/1,500]

DJ and I were panting heavily on the ground, Cassidy got scrapped via impalement of a massive claymore through her head and John with a volley of knives in the back. It was night, DJ and I were barely Standing and despite Beldona had her wings bleeding out and defeathered with her left arm holding onto her body from thin chunks of muscle and skin, she still stood up properly.

“Jesus christ lady...how are you still standing?” I panted.

"Experience." She said, her good arm extending as she pulled out a glowing blue and purple sword.

[David Alchem - HP: 15/1,350

DJ - HP: 2/150]

"What do we do?" DJ asked, her front right paw limping and her coat wet in mud and blood.

“Something...really dumb…” I said as the ground started to shake. “Water Tremors!” I shouted as I slammed my weakened fists into the ground, mud geysers suddenly shooting out from the ground and towards Beldona, the water from the ground mixing in with the earth creating a strong torrent of water with the added bonus of all the rocks it’s collected being flung at her as well.

She took a step to the side, and Beldona's legs reficed, hitting her hard.

[Beldona - HP: 10/1,500]

Grunting she got back up.

"Mud hardening." I growled as a line of mud started to petrify, rushing towards Belinda who was covered in the stuff and struggling to get back up.

I called my Keyblade, Starlight appearing to me in a flash as I less than epicly ran at her. Right as I was going to swing her arm broke free, meeting my blade as we clashed in a tired display or sparks. I grunted as I gripped my fist, and Fire coated it as I have a tired punch.

[Beldona - HP: 1/1,500]

She reacted, biting my hand. Hard as blood spilled and I heard a crack.

[David Alchem - HP: 1/1,350]

"Oh come on…" I groaned in pain, trying to ignite my hand in her mouth with any of my elements to try and deal that last point of damage.

I couldn't force an element out and tried to pull my hand free. DJ ran up, well, limped up and with an audible crunch bit down on Beldona's nose.

[Beldona - HP: 0/1,500]

"Heh. You are a determined guy huh?" She asked as her body began fading away. "I hope we can have a rematch sometime."

“Yeah…” I groaned. “But...not right now...I’m in massive pain…”

"You get used to it." She said as the last of her faded away and I collapsed.

* * *

I began to wake up, painfully, to a sensation of laying atop someone. A sensation I only know now that is to Abby, and despite the sore pain I recognized the softness of my current 'pillow'. "You're awake. Good." Abby said. From how I was positioned I could feel she wasn't naked, more in a nightgown than named but it was a thin less for sleeping and more for fun times type. 

I opened my eyes, seeing I was indeed resting atop Abby, my head between her breasts that were covered in a pink blouse that hid nothing as it was see through colored fabrics.

“Everything still hurts…” I groaned.

"I know. I healed you up to full but magic only does so much. Physically you're fine but you'll still feel the pain for a while." Abby said as she gave me a kiss. "I also healed DJ and Cassidy went to get some pain killers. John is setting up your new med bay, after this you guys will really need it."

“Did we win though?” I asked. “Like...get all the rewards and stuff?”

"Yeah. Cassidy left you the others you still needed in your inventory, took the ones She and John needed and already absorbed them and the last thirty she put to making the training room, which will be ready in a day or so." Abby said with a sigh. "So, you met Beldona?"

“She fucking hurts…” I whined.

"Heh. She takes her job with the Subs seriously. Off the clock she's really nice and friendly. We had a few battles, a few flings, nothing serious. Mostly just friends."

“It would have been nice to meet her without her trying to shove a lot of swords in me at least a dozen times…” I grumbled.

"She's in my contacts. Maybe we can schedule a meet up when you're better."

“Hopefully…” I sighed out. “So...how was your nap while I was getting my ass kicked?”

"Not as calm as I'd hoped. If I'd known it was Beldona I would have just gone back to base, I can only recover so fast when my host is also exhausted."

“Would have liked to know that beforehand as well...oh, and a Naga named Dekin said hi.” I said honestly.

"Awh, Dekin is fun. Oh well, guess I'll text him later." Abby said as she kept her arms wrapped around me. "So David?" Abby asked.

“Yes?” I asked my fairy friend.

"The sex has been fun, but do you think we can go on a date sometime?"

“That would be nice.” I said lovingly. “I need a break...it’s been a whole lot of fighting…”

"It's a cultural thing here." She said, still holding me as we both fell back into blissful sleep.


End file.
